Mad in Pursuit Notebook
The Spirit Horse: Pay Attention!
Scattered attention is the curse of busy adulthood. We make impulse purchases, suffer vague regret, and push them out of our vision while our minds flit to something else. As I get older, I worry more about forgetting. I worry about the forgetting not due to cognitive decline but due to inattentiveness. What did we buy that tube of Flitz polish for? Who remembers the countries of west Africa from middle-school geography? When did we ever celebrate the life of a childless great uncle? Where the heck is Burkina Faso? We aren't impaired. We are neglectful.
When I look at the "unicorn" I feel neglectful. Jim and I got it in 2005. A local art dealer had put it into a silent auction to benefit the zoo. It was one of the few African items I had a role in buying, because I loved the surface design. I immediately regretted it. It was a unicorn, for godsake, a pop-Western theme that decorated little girls' bedrooms, not traditional African. Was it exportware? That's probably why the dealer donated it to the auction, right?
In 2005, I had opened my eBay store to clear out the underbrush of Jim's many collections. All my research time was consumed with finding the right words to describe photographs, books, postcards, etc. The unicorn faded into the dusty background.
Now, I am resurrecting forgotten things and waking up their sleeping spirits.
First of all, Burkina Faso (formerly Upper Volta). This nation is forgotten by inattentive Westerners, who would be hard-pressed to recall where it is. Not in anyone's newsfeed, the former French colony suffers under a military dictatorship, which has just abolished all political parties. (See the Feb. 4 Human Rights Watch report.) This, plus Al-Qaeda (JNIM) and Islamic State (ISSP) affiliates conduct frequent bombings, shootings, and kidnappings, targeting civilians, security forces, and Western interests. Tourism discouraged.
In spite of its history of upheaval and because of its resistance to Islamic and Christian conversion, indigenous arts and culture have thrived in Burkina Faso. This includes sophisticated metallurgy, used for both weaponry and ritual objects.
My "unicorn" is not an imitation of European myth. The 13-inch high, seven-pound, solid bronze is a product of the small Gan ethnic group, who live in the southwest provinces. This tiny kingdom is known for its rich history of producing "royal bestiaries," copper-alloy fantasy animals, "charged" with the spirits of past kings or protective entities.
In the Gan bestiaries, the horse represents military power, nobility, and speed. Seen here with the horn of an antelope, it may hold a specific forest spirit that combines the speed of a horse with the dangerous power of a wild antelope.
The coil motifs conjure up the python, symbol of royal lineage. Here, the python spirit wraps the horse in protective ancestor power.
The Gan people are even more lost to Westerners than Burkina Faso is. The more populous tribes (Gurunsi, Kurumba, Mossi, etc.—with their fabulous painted geometric designs) take up most of the web space about the region's culture.
Today, I gently cleansed dirt and dust from this Gan Royal Bronze and tonight I'll preserve it with a thin coating of Renaissance wax. I have learned a lot by handling its heft and by exploring its origins. The message is clear: pay attention. Treasure the details. Don't lapse into seeing everyone and everything in a blur of assumptions. Dust off and revitalize your memories and your mementos. Donate to the Human Rights Watch.
6 Feb. 2026
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