African Arts Gallery

The African art sculptures of the bobo, Bwa, Kurumba and Mossi, living in Burkina Faso, frequently take up and combine stylized elements borrowed from humans, animals or insects. It is the spirits of nature that are supposed to determine the well-being and prosperity of an individual, and adversity will be seen as the result of neglect scars of collective rites. It is therefore during various celebrations that the mask will personify a spirit of nature or that of an ancestor in order to influence the daily life of the members of the ethnic group. They appear to honor the deceased during funeral rites, and to escort souls to the realm of the dead. They also occur during agricultural festivals in order to ensure the progression of the seasons, so during the initiation rites they will introduce young people to the responsibilities of adult life. Masks are the object of family pride, and thus a way to enhance its prosperity and influence within the group. It is in a spirit of competition that everyone will seek to highlight the danced performances of his mask, and to highlight the ornamental motifs of his surface. The paintings were thus renewed on the occasion of each new dance season.
This heavy mask with two-tone triangular patterns has a hollowed-out circular element in the centre. The front part of the piece, in a curved volume shared with a middle ridge, could evoke the beak of a bird. The contours are lined with holes on which was knotted the thick hemp adornment accompanying the mask.