''Kigango'' (''plural'': ''vigango'') is a carved wooden memorial statue erected by the Mijikenda peoples of the southeastern

Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi ...

coast. The ''vigango'', which can be stylized, abstracted human-form

effigies An effigy is an often life-size sculptural representation of a specific person, or a prototypical figure. The term is mostly used for the makeshift dummies used for symbolic punishment in political protests and for the figures burned in certai ...

and are placed vertically rising out of the earth, honor a dead member of the secret Gohu society, or the "Society of the Blessed". They were traditionally allowed to stand until they naturally decomposed, or they were abandoned and replaced at subsequent village locations by a second generation figure known as a ''kibao'' (''plural: vibao''), thereby transferring away whatever spiritual power was thought to remain from the original ''kigango''. This was a natural result of the Mijikenda's centuries old practice of slash and burn agriculture and, subsequently, the periodic changing of village locations. The hard-wood ''kigango'' is approximately life-size and may have been painted. ''Vigango'' have been celebrated and collected by artists and collectors around the world, including

Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the Art movement, visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore th ...

. Numerous ''vigango'' are now in U.S. museums, although some were discovered to have been stolen and were returned to Kenya. However, ''vigango'' were openly and legally for sale from reputable art galleries and curio shops in Kenya from the early 1970s until at least the mid-1990s. Anthropologist Monica Udvardy of the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a public land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentucky, the university is one of the state ...

has been particularly active in writing about theft of ''vigango'' and their repatriation from US and European museums.The Transatlantic Trade in African Ancestors: Mijikenda Memorial Statues (Vigango) and the Ethics of Collecting and Curating Non‐Western Cultural Property
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Looted memorial statues returned to Kenyan family by MONICA UDVARDY AND LINDA GILES
Mijikenda African sculpture Wooden sculptures {{sculpture-stub