African Arts Gallery

Kwele Pipibuze mask, Pipibudze, ("the man") symbolizing the light and clairvoyance necessary to fight against the forces of witchcraft. This mask is topped with a horn that comes back in front of the face. This type of mask was not always intended to be worn, but adorned the walls of the huts. Kaolin residue, minor cracks.
Depending on the presence of horns and their arrangement, the masks are called pibibudzé, Ekuku zokou, etc...and are associated with ancestors or forest spirits, "ekuk". A tribe of the Kota group, the Kwélé, Bakwélé, live in the forest on the northern border of the Republic of Congo. They live from hunting, agriculture and metallurgy. Practicing the cult called Bwété borrowed from the Ngwyes, which was accompanied by obligatory initiation rites, they used at the end of the ceremonies in addition to zoomorphic elephant or gorilla masks, ekuk masks. i> evoking the antelope whose horns come together in a loop under the chin. The blood of the antelope was also used among the Kwélé for therapeutic purposes.