Unveiling the Mysteries: Exploring the Spiritual Significance of African Masks

New: the 2nd edition of Within Carved Lines: The Secret Meanings of African Masks is out now. Get the book → Several masking traditions documented in this book draw a sharp line between the performer and the thing performed. Few state it as directly as the Mano of Liberia and southernmost Guinea, whose masks represent…

The striped Kifwebe mask of the Luba and Songye peoples is one of the most visually distinctive in all of African art. Here is the story behind the design.

New: the 2nd edition of Within Carved Lines: The Secret Meanings of African Masks is out now. Get the book → A number of masking traditions documented in this book use color to mark rank, age, or spiritual category. The Lumbo of southern and southwestern Gabon went further, building an entire moral division into a…

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,…