I Decoded African Masks and Their Color Symbolism—Here’s What Shocked Me

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 carry at least a working consensus on what their masks were for, even when the deeper symbolism stays contested. The Boa of the northern Democratic Republic of…

New: the 2nd edition of Within Carved Lines: The Secret Meanings of African Masks is out now. Get the book → A people squeezed between two much larger, much more famous neighbors could easily end up as a footnote to both. The roughly 20,000 Yohure of central Côte d’Ivoire sit exactly in that geographic position,…

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 carry a clear, unbroken line from sacred origin to present-day use. The Duma, or Aduma, boatmen of Gabon’s Ogooue River, present a harder case: their masks are…