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Igbo Maiden Spirit Mask (Agbogho Mmuo): Beauty, Purity, and Ancestral Connection
Carved to represent the idealised beauty of deceased maidens, the Agbogho Mmuo mask is one of Nigeria’s most graceful masquerade traditions.
The African Mask That Sold for $4.4 Million: The True Story
New: the 2nd edition of Within Carved Lines: The Secret Meanings of African Masks is out now. Get the book → An old French couple were clearing out an attic. They found a mask nobody in the family had thought twice about in years. They sold it for €150. About $158. Two years later,…
African Masks Deteriorating? Here’s What You’re Missing
From my book, Within Carved Lines We have the hardware, not the software People ask whether I am giving our secrets away. Think of it this way. Imagine an enemy seized your most powerful weapons and put them in a museum, but you still held the launch codes. Europe holds thousands of our masks. What…
Ngbaka Masks: Paired Ancestors Standing Guard Over the Same House
New: the 2nd edition of Within Carved Lines: The Secret Meanings of African Masks is out now. Get the book → Several masking traditions in this book represent a single ancestor or a single spiritual authority. The Ngbaka, spread across the northern Democratic Republic of the Congo and into the Central African Republic, carved theirs…
Kanaga Mask of the Dogon: The Cross-Shaped Mask of Mali’s Funeral Rites
New: the 2nd edition of Within Carved Lines: The Secret Meanings of African Masks is out now. Get the book → Of all the mask forms carved and danced across Africa, the Kanaga mask of the Dogon people is one of the most visually distinct: a carved wooden face is topped by a tall, double-barred…
Nkanu Masks: Initiates Learn the Art by Watching It Get Made
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 keep their objects hidden from the very initiates the rites are meant to transform, revealing finished masks only at a climactic unveiling. The Nkanu of Angola and…