Wild Spirits Strong Medicine: African Art and the Wilderness explores African concepts of the nature/culture, wilderness/village dichotomy as it is expressed through works of art. The opposition between nature and culture, one of the fundamental organizing principles of African cosmologies, is an old topic in anthropological discourse. It has, however, never been closely examined in African art. African ideas about the qualities of the wilderness and the village give us insights into African concepts of civilization. These ideas are explored through a sifting of past research and current studies on the subject, and the inclusion of related works of art. Wilderness is examined as a catalyst for art and symbolic thought. The wide array of natural ingredients used in the construction of shrines, masquerades, figures, and power images reflects man’s desire to harness or combat the powerful forces of the natural world. Ideas about the village/wilderness dichotomy are frequently expressed in the arrangement and use of physical space. Descriptions of the physical and mystical dwelling places of wilderness spirits contrast with descriptions of the settlements of human beings and provide clues to understanding “civilized” and “uncivilized.”  

Exhibition catalogue by Martha G. Anderson and Christine Mullen Kreamer. Edited by Enid Schildkrout. Foreword: The Nature of Nature by Susan Vogel; Introduction: The Forest and the Trees by Enid Schildkrout; chapters written by authors: 1. Wilderness; 2. Space; 3. Denizens of the Wild; 4. Diviners, Healers, and Hunters; 5. Power. Published and distributed by The Center for African Art and The University of Washington Press, May 1989. 152 pp. Cloth: ISBN 0-295-96908-3, Paper: ISBN 0-945802-03-X. LCCN: 89-7124.