This mask is a varient of the white masks of Ogowe, which are found throughout Western and central Gabon. The Performance of such masks, known as okuyi or mukuyi, are nowadays intended primarily to entertain audiences on festive occasions. Only rarely do the masqueraders fulfill a ritual function of officiating at funerals, when they dance as embodiments of the spirits of female and male ancestors. In performances the dancers, wearing costumes of raffia or cotton fabric and animal pelts, move with amazing agility on stilts up to 2 metres in hight. This mask represents an idealised female face. This is indicated by the scale like scarification patterns on the forehead and temples, each consisting of 9 dots arranged in a square or diamond, which, according to fiels researchers have a sexual connotation. Another sign of female gender is its coiffure. Whair piled high on the head and arranged in 2 braids at the sides, this coiffure recalls the hairstyle used by women at the beginning of the 20th century. Arched eyebrows, carved in low relief, narrow eye slits between convex lids, finely formed nose, and a closed mouth, characterise the sensitively modeled face, whose harmonious features exude serenity. African masks, from the Barbier-Mueller collection, Geneva. (Prestel)

Measures: 28 x 18 x 14cm

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Ann Porteus Sidewalk Tribal Gallery 19-21 Castray Esplanade, Battery Point 7004 Hobart Tasmania Australia ann@sidewalkgallery.com.au sidewalktribal.com t: 613 6224 0331