AFRICAN DOORS.

One of my great loves, and weaknesses, African doors. Created with qualities usually reserved for sculpture of ritual or religious importance, the doors show an impressive range of styles, all worthy of critical appreciation and with a romantic sense of age and timeless history.

Most of the doors are Dogon house doors, all of 2-3 wood panels joined by iron clips.Dogon granary doors, much smaller, are usually embellished with figures and sacred images that communicate symbolic messages, invoking spirits or deities for protection and making the door sacrosanct.
The Dogon people are located in the southeastern parts of Mali. They are well -known for making art work out of wood, especially carved masks, figures, and granary doors. The granary door is located on a family's granary. The higher one's status, the more elaborate and complex in design the granary door would be. These doors were created to protect the harvest of the Dogon people. Ancestral beings were carved on the door to in the purpose to protect what lies on the other side of the door. Also, these doors recognized spiritual beings that were in charge of fertility and agriculture.Masked figures were often carved on granary doors. These figures wear Kanaga masks. These masks represent the female spirit and birds. In Dogon society, birds are symbols that represent fertility. Located in a region where vegetation is quite low, the Dogon treasured the food that they had and needed to protect it; by doing so they ensured their existence