To the northern Bantu tribes "kilengi" means joy arising through beauty. Kilengi includes superb photographs of art objects from throughout Africa. The book presents extraordinary works from well-known regions as well as new discoveries and objects that challenge long-standing conceptions of African art. Christopher Roy includes a masterly introduction to the problems of the presentation of traditional African art.Much of the most unusual material is from eastern and southern Africa. This is an area about which very little has been known until recently, and there has been very little published on the art from the region. A large selection of pieces from the Democratic Republic of Congo is also of special interest. Essays and lengthy commentaries discuss the meaning of each piece for the creators.
