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TRIBAL AFRICAN ART
GURUNSI (GRUSHI, GOUROUNSI, JAMAN)
Burkina Faso, Ghana
Gurunsi is a collective term, which includes Gurensi, Kasena, Lyele,
Nuna, Nunuma, Sisala, and Winiama. These ethnicities speak dialects of the Gur language,
and it was the Mossi who gave the Gurunsi name to the tribes who live in the west and
south of the Mossi plateau. Together they number about 200,000 people, the most numerous
of which are the Nuna, estimated at 100,000. The Gurunsi live in a region where the tsetse
fly, carrier of sleeping sickness fatal to domestic animals, is rampant. As farmers, the
Gurunsi adopted the slash-and-burn system of cultivation. During the dry season they also
organize large collective fishing expeditions and hunt. The people believe in a creator
god, Yi, who withdrew from humankind after the Creation; in the center of the village a
shrine is dedicated to him. Moreover, each clan shelters magic objects in a hut –
these allow them to communicate with the vital forces of nature.
The masks represent the spirits of the bush. They are made in the
shape of poles or in the form of animals. They are colored red, black, and white. The eyes
protrude, surrounded by concentric circles, with a rather short snout on the animal masks,
and a large and protruding mouth on the more abstract masks. They are decorated with geometric motifs, and
often repainted. The wearer of the mask may be invisible underneath the fiber skirt and
must behave as the animal does, imitating its gait. The mask’s role is important
during ceremonies at the end of initiation, at the funerals of notables, and as
entertainment on certain market days.
Gurunsi statues kept inside huts or on family shrines are reserved for divination.
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