York's Shona Gallery presents "Masaai Tribe," a sculpture that is about closeness. Six Masaai figures stand shoulder to shoulder, carved as one from a single piece of pure ebony, so that no figure exists apart from the group. It is a fitting form for a people who hold family above all, and whose art so often shows family members holding one another up.
The piece is by Ndonye Mwanzilo, widely acknowledged as the finest of the many ebony carvers of Kenya's Machakos district. Mwanzilo works exclusively in ebony, and his detail demands great patience and a steady, most skillful hand. He believes art is an essential way to preserve the tradition and culture of Masaai life, and the tribe itself is his recurring subject.
