The first time I encountered an African Mask

New: the 2nd edition of Within Carved Lines: The Secret Meanings of African Masks is out now. Get the book → The Kwele mask is easy to recognize and hard to forget. A pale, heart shaped face. A triangular nose. Eyes closed or nearly closed, like someone deep in thought rather than deep in performance….

New: the 2nd edition of Within Carved Lines: The Secret Meanings of African Masks is out now. Get the book → Some African masks were inherited with a family name. A Salampasu mask was not one of them. To wear one, a man had to do something first: perform a specific deed, pay in livestock…