Makers in Baule-speaking communities in central Côte d’Ivoire have created aesthetically and spiritually powerful figural sculptures, termed waka sran, since at least the 1700s. These works, inherited from older colleagues or newly commissioned, enable the specialist, or komien, to discern the cause of a client’s physical or psychological distress.
This finely carved female figure adorned with two slim strands of red beads and covered with complex abstracted geometric patterns that traverse her stomach, cheekbones, and skim her hairline is most likely a blolo bla. Loosely translated as "spirit wife," these works are the physical manifestations of an individual’s otherworldly counterpart. The figure’s powerful yet contained pose, downcast eyes, and complex decoration symbolize and thus help to realize the wholistic balance that the komien facilitates for his client.
