Tchokwe mask, Angola, c. 1980

The most powerful and important Chokwe mask is known as the Chikunga. Highly charged with power and considered sacred, the Chikunga is worn during chieftaincy ceremonies and sacrifices to ancestors. Chikunga is worn only by the current chief of a group. Mukanda masks play a role in male initiation. The Mukanda is an initiation institution through which religion, art and social organization are transmitted from one generation to the next. While they once probably played an important role in religious beliefs and institutional practices, many other Chokwe masks have come to be used primarily for entertainment. Itinerant actors wearing these masks travel from village to village and live off gifts received at performances. Height: 30 cm Reproduced: Catalogue “Africa Babel: the Art of a Continent”, p.- 180
Exhibitions:
2022-2024 Island of Fuerteventura “Art Africa: Ancestral Light”. Lighthouse of the Entallada. Cabildo of Fuerteventura.
2021-2022 Panama City. Government of Panama. “Art Africa: the spirit of the ancestors”. Ministry of Culture Headquarters. Casco Viejo.
2019-2020 Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Caja Canarias Foundation. “Africa-Babel: the art of a Continent”. Headquarters Plaza Patriotismo.
2013-2015 Museum of Art of Africa and Oceania (Madao). La Granja de San Ildefonso, Segovia.
2005 “Black Africa”, Leather Museum.
2004 “Black Africa”. Caixa Laietana Foundation, Barcelona. Main exhibition hall