Label Text:
In traditions practiced across the African continent, masks are part of larger spectacles filled with costume, dance, and music. Activated by the wearer, masks are assigned cultural meaning on the occasions of their use. The masks on display here illustrate the notion that masks are not worn: rather, masks are performers.
The Senufo cultural region, which extends from northern Côte d’Ivoire to southern Mali and western Burkina Faso, contains many ethnic subgroups. Several Senufo groups, including Poro, men’s initiation societies established throughout the Senufo region to organize chiefly lineages and solidify ethnic ties, use carved wooden face masks (kpelie or kpeli-yehe).
Poro societies use wooden face masks during initiation ceremonies and funerals. When performed, a large mane of raffia fiber surrounds the masks and covers the dancer’s face. On the mask displayed here, holes along the rim reveal where fibers would have originally been attached. Beneath their masks, dancers also wear cloth and fiber costumes that completely obscure their bodies.
Many Senufo groups consider kpelie face masks female counterparts to male zoomorphic helmet masks. Kpelie masks typically have small, ovoid faces with elongated features and symmetrically balanced geometric additions. Amherst’s mask incorporates elegant buffalo horns which frame a central crest at the top of the head. The buffalo is an important symbol in Senufo culture. Poro kpelie masks with buffalo horns celebrate the path to adulthood and fulfillment.
KG, 2010
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=AC+1989.88 |
