DOGON GRAINARY DOOR, MALI, AFRICA

The Dogon of present day Mali (Africa) live along the Bandiagara escarpment...a range of cliffs approximately 120 miles long and in places up to one thousand feet high. Living in small villages on the plain, at the foot of the escarpment, the Dogon farm in an environment that is marginal and demanding.

As subsistence farmers, they depend upon the food they produce to live...storing it in granaries made of mud with thatched roofs and carved doors providing access to the foodstuffs held in the granary. Numerous granaries attest not only to the need to store food, but equally reflect family structures, as each wife will have her own granary where personal objects as well as family shrines are kept.

Openings into the granary were sealed by carved doors or panels, such as the one above. Figures of humans, animals or of symbolic motifs are carved in relief onto the surface of the door. The doors have pointed corners that served as hinges .

53" x 26" Valued at $350