Brooklyn Art Museum, NY |
African exhibit, Dec. 2007, as seen by Netiva |
Komo mask, Burkina Faso |
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Married with 1st child (scars) |
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Totem animal for a clan |
in Burkina Faso |
West Africa |
door of important people |
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In Guinea Bissau an initiation mask for young people |
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In Ivory Coast idealizing female beauty |
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In Liberia this mask excites the villagers in festivities |
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Small personal masks |
that protect their owners |
kept hidden |
except in festivities |
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Baboon figure from Ivory Coast |
for the cult of Mbra |
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Monument to the dead |
in Ouidah, Benin |
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The Yoruba |
the largest ethnic group |
Gelede mask in Nigeria |
worn by men to honor women |
of the community living and dead |
Divination tapper (Iroke ifa), Yoruba , Nigeria |
Yoruba Gelede masks emerging from the sacred forest in Benin |
singing songs to remind people |
to respect the powerful especially elder women in Yoruba society |
West and Central Africa |
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Ebo Oba, mask to honor the father of a king |
placed on an altar in the Royal palace of Benin |
Hip ornaments with face |
in the Royal court of Benin, Nigeria |
a warrier |
of the court of the Oba, or king, Benin , Nigeria |
Headdress in the kingdom of Cameroon |
worn by secret society men serving as police or in court of law |
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emblem of the leopard secret society in cameroon (Nkpa) |
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Power figure (Nkisi Nkondi) |
in Congo. In cavity ingredients are placed of super natural power |
In Congo, used in dances of Yaka men circuncision ceremony |
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In Gabon, guardian figure |
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Hemba mask to protect boys during the initiation ceremony |
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Chief chair |
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Congo |
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Divination figures (Mukishi) in the Democratic republic of Congo |
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Painted Karo dancers in Ethiopia |
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Caribbean religions in the most part are direct products of African influence |