African Arts Gallery

This African mask Lega indicated the stage that its holder had reached within the Bwami, a learning society composed of different grades. Composed of an inverted split face, the contours of which are edged with a thick fringe of raffia, this mask would be associated with the primordial ancestors. It is coated with a thick layer of partially abraded white clay. Matt patina, desiccation cracks.
Settled on the shores and islands of Lake Kivu, the Bashi, Omushi, or even Banyabungu, form a Bantu group from the west, which the Lega came to mingle with, then joined by the pastoral populations of Rwanda. They live mainly from agriculture and cattle breeding. Within the Léga, the Bwami society, open to men and women, organized social and political life. There were up to seven levels of initiation, each associated with emblems. The passage of a rank indicated the acquisition of a certain individual wisdom and morality.