York's Shona Gallery
The
Blog
Stories of the artists and peoples behind the work: the sculptors, tribes, and traditions that have shaped our collection.
The Bwa Tribe
The Bwa (also known as Bobo-Oulé) are a Gur-speaking people of central and western Burkina Faso and eastern Mali. They are renowned for producing some of the most dramatic and...
The Nafana Tribe
The Nafana are a small Gur-speaking people inhabiting the borderland between northwestern Ghana and northeastern Côte d'Ivoire. Despite their relatively small population, they are renowned across the...
The Dan Tribe
The Dan are a Mande-speaking people of western Côte d'Ivoire and eastern Liberia, inhabiting the mountainous forest zone at the border of the two countries. Their mask tradition is one...
The Guro Tribe
The Guro are a Mande-speaking people of central Côte d'Ivoire, inhabiting a forested zone between the savannah cultures to the north and the coastal cultures to the south. Renowned for...
The Mossi Tribe
The Mossi are the largest ethnic group in Burkina Faso, organising themselves around a cluster of traditional kingdoms ruled by the Mogho Naba (Emperor of the World) in Ouagadougou. Their...
The Dogon Tribe
The Dogon are an ancient people of the Bandiagara Escarpment in Mali, a 500-kilometre sandstone cliff rising dramatically above the plains of the Niger bend. They settled here, in cliff-face...