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The Dan Mask of West Africa: Purpose, Symbolism, and Regional Variations
Found among the Dan people of Côte d’Ivoire and Liberia, these masks are among the most expressive in African art history.
Lulua Masks: Faces From an Ethnic Crossroads in the Congo
New: the 2nd edition of Within Carved Lines: The Secret Meanings of African Masks is out now. Get the book → “Lulua” is not really the name of one people. It is an umbrella term for a large number of heterogeneous groups who settled near the Lulua River, between the Kasai and Sankuru rivers in…
Landuman Masks: One Mask, Three Guesses at What Animal It Is
New: the 2nd edition of Within Carved Lines: The Secret Meanings of African Masks is out now. Get the book → Most masking traditions documented in this book maintain a whole wardrobe of mask types, each built for a distinct spirit, rite, or society. The Landuman of Guinea are known to use exactly one: the…
Yoruba Masks: Gelede, Egungun and Epa, and What Each One Is For
The drums start before you see anything. Then the crowd parts, and a figure comes through covered from head to foot in layered cloth. You cannot see a hand. You cannot see a face. Somebody near you says the ancestor has come home. Nobody laughs. That is the thing outsiders miss about Yoruba masks. They…
Gurunsi Masks: Seven Peoples United Under a Name Their Rivals Gave Them
New: the 2nd edition of Within Carved Lines: The Secret Meanings of African Masks is out now. Get the book → Most tribal names documented in this book come from within: a people’s own word for itself. Gurunsi is different. It is a collective term covering the Gurensi, Kasena, Lyele, Nuna, Nunuma, Sisala, and Winiama,…
Senufo Kpelie Mask: The Face Mask of Ancestors and Initiation
Used in Poro society initiations across Côte d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, and Mali, the Senufo Kpelie is an ancestor-honouring masterpiece.