Half Figure (Nlo Byeri)

<p>Among the Fang people, figures that serve as guardians of ancestral remains often conflate features of infants and the elderly, combining the wide-eyed stare and rounded arms and hands of a child with the sunken cheeks and drawn mouth of an old man. These visual oppositions infuse a figure with the vitality and animation that are crucial to its ongoing role as an intermediary with the ancestors.</p>