With astonishing ingenuity blacksmiths now apply modern metal discards and junkyard steel toward the material needs of clients. From automobile suspension springs forged into tools to funerary staffs constructed from dismantled fifty-five gallon oil drums, blacksmiths in Africa continue to forge utilitarian and ritual objects for trade and for use in all aspects of community members' lives.

Funerary Altar Staff, asen, assanyn
Fon - Benin
iron and wood, 46"h x 11"w x 10"d
Collection of: Tom Joyce

An asen is a monument where one offers food to the dead to invite the presence of their spirit. People wishing to honor the deceased commission these staffs from Fon blacksmiths. A particular praise poem is related by the imagery on the top; here the staff presents the two halves of the universe as the calabash, a symbol of equality and cosmic unity, and renders the royal family as cock and hen. Asen establish a sacred space in the home for communication between the living and the dead, where prayer and sacrifice assure that the deceased will remain active in family affairs.

Life Force at the Anvil
The Blacksmith's Art from Africa

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