Power figure

.A giant West African snail shell contains medicinal ingredients (bilongo), which are sealed inside with resin. Guineafowl feathers are secured to the shell. The shell itself was covered in a layer of kaolin clay (mpemba) which comes from the riverbeds. Some of this clay remains. Mpemba was also the name given to the land of the dead, and this item would have invoked the ancestors in order to bring about change and renewal.

Minkisi (sing. nkisi)
When Europeans first encountered power figures (minkisi) in the Congo, they believed them to be man-made deities (‘fetishes’) that were worshipped. However, minkisi belonged to an age-old complex cosmology, one that was centred on a reciprocating universe. This meant that there existed a constant interchange between the visible ‘world of the living’ and the invisible ‘world of the dead’. Minkisi created a physical connection between these worlds.
Their potency included ‘medicinal’ substances (bilongo) that would help to bind the powers of the invisible world to the figure. Bilongo included ingredients associated with the specific ability of the figure. They could be used to heal, alleviate hardship, locate witches or bring harm – they were mainly created for the benefit of people.
Minkisi were activated by a specialist called an nganga. Power figures were constructed with great care to produce a visual effect, they were viewed as items of great power. When not in use they were stored in the nganga’s hut.