• Mbuti, D.R. Congo

• Early 20th C.

• Pounded tree fiber, natural pigments

• Dimensions folded: 20.5 x 13 in. / 52 × 33 cm

• Dimensions unfolded: 25.5 × 13 in. / 65 x 33 cm

• Ex. Andres Moraga

The Mbuti live in the Ituri rainforest of the northeastern D.R. Congo, and are among the last hunter-gatherer nomadic cultures in the world. To make their ceremonial loincloth called pongo, men collected the inner layer of tree bark from tropical trees and pounded it until it was thin and pliable. Women then made pigments and painted the cloth, creating drawings that often evoked the forest landscape.

The loincloths were worn during rites of passage including weddings, funerals, initiations into adulthood, and ritual dances (Bark loincloth (pongo), Museum of Fine Arts Boston; Gillow, African Textiles, 2003).

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