Akua'ba Fertility figure

This realistic legless bust is typical to akua'ba figures carved in Ahwia, Ghana, between 1992-95. Akua'ba figures that have proliferated in Africa generally follow specific stylistic conventions to maintain recognizable form. In Ghana, the forms have not been so conservative. Expanding on the concept of the fertility doll, artists in Ahwia, the principal Asante carving village, had carved the figures with variation in form and subjects (A. Cameron: 1996 fig. 68).