African Arts Gallery

African art, African masks associated with agriculture
The fifth initiatory Bambara society, Bamana, is called tyiwara (ci, to cultivate, wara, wild animal) and is still practiced today in a few towns. These crest masks evoking the antelope, oryx or antelope dage depending on the case, are available vertically and horizontally. Presenting themselves to the public in pairs, male and female, the wearers of the masks adopt a symbolic choreography related to agriculture. In the region of Bamako and in the south of the dry savannah country Bamana, the crests adopt an often horizontal stylized composition, and are also combined with other animal forms, pangolin, anteater and sometimes python. Large metal staples assemble the different sections that make up the mask. Blackish brown, matte and powdery patina. Slight lacks at the level of an ear and abrasions. Worn at the top of the skull and held in place by a kind of small basket, these crests accompanied the dancers during the rituals of the tòn, an association dedicated to agricultural work. The masks traversed the field while leaping in order to drive out from this one the nyama, malefic emanations, and to detect any danger, or to flush out the malevolent genies who could ravish the soul of the cultivated plants as well as the life force of their seeds.