“Akua'ba Invocation Figure” is one of eight Invocation Figures by Andrew F. Scott. The Akua’ba fertility figure has historically been used by the Akan women of West Africa to aid in conception. Traditionally, akua’ba figures are carved from wood and consecrated by priests although Scott’s comparatively massive sculpture is constructed entirely out of steel. The figures are all carved in a similar style with characteristics of ideal Akan beauty such as a flat disklike head and rings around the neck to replicate rolls of fat which are signs of beauty, health, and prosperity. Akan women carry these figures against their backs wrapped in their skirts, in the same way they will carry their infant children. After aiding the woman through pregnancy, akua’ba are returned to shrines as offerings to the spirits in return for the safekeeping of the child. Some families choose to keep their akua’ba as a memorial to the child and the figures become family heirlooms that call specific loved ones to mind. The disk-headed akua’ba figures remain one of the most recognizable forms in African art.

Andrew F. Scott is a multimedia artist and sculptor whose work falls at the intersection of digital fabrication technologies, traditional fine arts practices, and collective cultural ideals. He finds inspiration from African American art and culture and views his work through the spirit of “Sankofa,” a word in the Twi language of Ghana that literally translates to "go back and get it." Metaphorically, “Sankofa” expresses the importance of reaching back to knowledge gained in the past and bringing it into the present in order to make positive progress. “Through synthesis, manipulation, and abstraction, [Scott] reinterpret[s] these traditional forms and ideas and bring[s] them into a modern context.” Scott’s work has been exhibited nationally and internationally.

Visit “Akua’ba Invocation Figure” in front of the King Arts Complex.