85 - Dance mask

Dance mask with a rectangular, geometric crest Wood, plant fibers, natural pigments, signs of wear. Afikpo, Nigeria. 22 x 9 cm With great graphic elegance, this mask combines a narrow, white, serene face with an upper crest where black, white, and ochre diamonds and triangles are arranged in a precise pattern. This painted crest is characteristic of Mba masks, which are unique to the Afikpo and a few neighboring groups in the Cross River region. Among the Afikpo, the same word, ihu, refers to both the face and the mask, and to don a mask is to become a spirit. The mba masks appeared during the okumkpa, the community’s grand masked theater performance. For several hours, the men performed a series of skits, songs, and dances under the direction of masked leaders. The characters mocked people’s greed and foibles, and brought the village’s tensions to the surface in order to better resolve them. Laughter thus became a way of reminding everyone of the shared rules. General Bibliography: Simon Ottenberg, *Masked Rituals of Afikpo: The Context of an African Art*, Seattle, University of Washington Press, 1975.