John Goba

Born in 1944, Mattru Jong, Sierra Leone
Died on February 11, 2019 in Feetown, Sierra Leone, where he lived and worked

John Goba is of Mende origin and was born into the Bondo Society, a secret women’s society in which his grandmother played an important role. This society provides its initiates with a social identity and a broader understanding of the world—the world in its fullest sense, encompassing the living, the dead, and the gods.

After completing his initiation, Goba settled in Mountain Cut, Freetown, where, around the age of thirty, he experienced a revelation—an event that artists from forest peoples often cite as the origin of their artistic activity.

His wooden sculptures, painted with industrial colors, draw inspiration from traditional knowledge, secrets, and folktales of various ethnic groups. Yet Goba takes creative liberties with tradition, producing works that combine his fantastical imagination with figures borrowed from traditional “stories.” Many porcupine quills are embedded in the main figures, providing protection and “forbidding” access to the “heart” of the sculpture. Each piece illustrates “stories” whose meanings are known only to Goba himself.