Igbo Maiden Spirit Mask, Nigeria #1200

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  • Igbo Maiden Spirit Mask, Nigeria #1200
  • Early 20th C. Carved wood, pigment, cloth
  • Agbogho Mmwo, or "Maiden Spirit" Masks are danced by men at Festivals that honor important Deities. The Maiden Masks represent the Igbo Ideal of Female Beauty: small, balanced features, elaborate hairstyles, and delicate tattoos.
  • The Maiden Mask would have been used in performance by the male dancers to evoke a Woman that was the Embodiment of the "Feminine Ideal". Masks representing Women or Honoring Women's Powers performed by men was a means for a Community to negotiate Female Gender Roles.
  • The men who dance Agbogho Mmwo Masks wear colorful, tight-fitting fiber costumes, entertaining the Village with exaggerated versions of Women's Dances.
  • Igbo Maiden Masks are a visible manifestation of the Spirits of Departed Ancestors who periodically revisit the Human Community for Remembrance, Celebration, and Blessings.
  • Kaolin taken from local Riverbeds (which are associated with Healing and with a Spiritual, Ancestral Realm of Existence) was applied to the facial surface of the Mask.
    By using this Kaolin Clay Material/ Pigment, the Artist both celebrated the Beauty of Mortal Women a transformed into an Otherworldly, Sublime, Supernatural Being.

  • Measurements: 19.5'' x 7.5'' x 11''

  • Igbo Peoples, Nigeria, Africa
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