SA Workshop on African Woodwork by Gursahiba Gill

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On the sultry, hot afternoon of 11th September a group of eager archaeologists in the making (not really but this hope might help us  sleep better at night) gathered at this not so historical but extremely aesthetic cafe called S-Cafe. *Inserts side note, it has a great bar, 10/10. Would recommend even to a teetotaller.*
It started off as most SA workshops do, with Shriya reaching on time and waiting for her volunteers to show up. After the formalities were addressed we were asked to take out our surgical gloves because no where in the rule book does it say that only surgeons get to have fun.The thought of Woodwork all the way from Africa had my heart and rear end thumping to the beats of Ngoma.
Each of us were given a precious hand out which contained information to build the basis of not only the workshop but also provided a bird's eye view into the life of Bembé tribe (and tribals).

The workshop aimed to teach us object analysis and this led to the pairing of volunteers and segregation into two teams. Out of the three sculptures that were being studied, the two smaller contemporary sculptures had been polished whilst the main sculpture was raw and untouched with respect to additional lustre.

We jotted down the measurements, texture of the wood, extremely prominent features and with our microscopic vision guiding us, we also noted down the pattern that the hidden grime made. Jokes aside, it was a thoroughly informative and mind stimulating workshop where our curiosity was partially quenched in order to catalyse our desire to go back home and read more about Congo and central Africa. The workshop ended with some of us hanging back for a sketch session, especially of the older Bembé Sculpture.



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