A group of indigenous people from Central Africa in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo, known for their distinctive geometric art and cloth-making traditions.
The word comes from the Kuba people's own name for themselves. Their rich artistic tradition has been documented for centuries, with their distinctive embroidered cloth (called kasai velvet or shoowa cloth) becoming internationally renowned.
Kuba artists created geometric patterns centuries before Western modernism 'discovered' them—their abstract designs influenced Picasso and other avant-garde artists, but the Kuba tradition goes back at least 500 years!
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