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How to Make an African Mask: Easy Templates and Steps
New: the 2nd edition of Within Carved Lines: The Secret Meanings of African Masks is out now. Get the book → African masks make a genuinely good school project. Bold shapes. Real symmetry. Room for a kid to make it their own. Done right, it is also a small chance to teach real culture instead…
Kuba Kingdom: Art, Masks, and the Legacy of Central Africa’s Greatest Empire
The Kuba Kingdom of present-day DRC produced extraordinary art and governance. Explore their mask traditions and historical impact.
Stories Shape the World, and Africans Must Tell Their Own Stories.
Stories shape the world, and you probably already know this. Behind every great movement led by people was a proportionately great story. The very famous proverb by one of Africa’s best storytellers, Chinua Achebe, explains this perfectly. He said that ‘until the lion learns how to write, the tale of the hunt will always glorify…
Understand Your Traditional African Mask: A Practical Guide for Owners and Collectors
So you own an African mask. Maybe it called out to you in a shop. Maybe you inherited it from a parent or an aunt who passed on, and now it sits on your wall, beautiful and silent, and you have no real connection to it. You do not know where it came from. You…
Yoruba Gelede Mask: Meaning, Ceremony, and Cultural Significance
The Yoruba Gelede mask is one of West Africa’s most celebrated ceremonial objects. Discover its origins, symbolism, and the UNESCO-recognised festivals it anchors.
What It Means to Own an African Mask Outside Africa
New: the 2nd edition of Within Carved Lines: The Secret Meanings of African Masks is out now. Get the book → Owning an African mask outside its place of origin is not inherently wrong—but it does come with responsibility. African masks were created within specific cultural systems. When they leave those systems, their meaning does…
