This is a Makonde sculpture, made out of African blackwood (mpingo), showing human figures climbing up and holding onto each other. It is a 'Tree of Life' or Ujamaa carving, showing how villagers survive by working with nature and supporting each other across generations. Ujamaa carvings are often several metres in height, and are almost always made from a single piece of wood. The wood (ebony in authentic carvings) is very hard, very heavy, and difficult to carve.  

The Makonde people speak ChiMakonde and other languages such as English in Tanzania, Portuguese in Mozambique, and Swahili and Makua in both countries. They are traditionally a matrilineal society where children and inheritances belong to women, and husbands move into the village of their wives. Their traditional religion is an animistic form of ancestor worship and still continues, although Makonde of Tanzania are nominally Muslim and those of Mozambique are Catholic or Muslim.

The centres of Makonde carving are in south-east Tanzania and in the capital Dar es Salaam. The statues are found in art collections worldwide.

Visit www.makonde-online.de to see some other forms of Makonde art.