Tankagle Mask of the Dan: What It Was For and Why It Matters
An entertainment mask associated with singing, dancing and community celebration.
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Kagle Mask of the Dan: What It Was For and Why It Matters
The Kagle is a troublemaker.
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Gunye Ge Mask of the Dan: What It Was For and Why It Matters
The Gunye ge is the Dan racing mask.
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Deangle Mask of the Dan: What It Was For and Why It Matters
The Deangle was the mask that cared for initiates during their time in the bush school.
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Oro Society Helmet Mask (Magbo) of the Ijebu Yoruba: What It Was For and Why It Matters
The Oro society brought together community leaders who rewarded good deeds, punished bad ones and presided over burials.
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Hemba So’o Chimpanzee Mask: What It Is and What It Does at a Funeral
The Hemba So’o chimpanzee mask guides the dead and calms the living at Congo funerals. Learn who wears it, what it means and how to read an auction lot.
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A Mask in a Museum Is a Mask Frozen at the Moment of Death
Museums preserve African masks beautifully. They also cut them off from everything that made them alive. Here is what is lost behind the glass.
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Agemo Mask of the Ijebu Yoruba: What It Was For and Why It Matters
Agemo is regarded as a son of Obatala and a protector of children.
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How to Tell If an African Mask Is Authentic: A Practical Checklist
Learn how to tell if an African mask is authentic: tool marks, wear, patina, pigment and provenance. A practical checklist from SEVICS Africa.
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Egungun Mask of the Yoruba: What It Was For and Why It Matters
The Egungun represents the collective ancestors made visible among the living.
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Bafo Sculpture: A Cameroonian Tradition Identified by a Single Gesture
New: the 2nd edition of Within Carved Lines: The Secret Meanings of African Masks is out now. Get the book → Many peoples documented in this book left behind a rich, well-recorded body of art. The Bafo, who live in western Cameroon, left behind something narrower but still unmistakable: a specific carved gesture, both hands…
