The art produced by the people who live in the eastern corner of Africa is insufficiently documented, yet the corpus of objects found in this region is congruent with the rest of Oriental Africa’s artistic output. Nevertheless, the influence of the Islamic world has been active since the Middle Ages. The people living in these areas are predominantly nomadic and so produced light and portable objects. Masks are extremely rare, and figures were carved for funerary purposes only. In addition, wooden chairs, influenced by Tanzanian art traditions, are a feature of nomadic life.

The principal tribes of the area are, from north to south: the Gurage, the Sidamo, the Kambatta and the Konso people in Ethiopia, the Boni/Somali people in Somalia, and the Kwafi, the Kikuyum the Kamba, the Massai and the Girayama people in Kenya.”

Source:
Baquart, Jean-Baptiste. The Tribal Arts of Africa. New York: Thames and Hudson Inc.