Igbo Afikpo mask, Nigeria, c. 1980

The Igbo wear thousands of masks, which embody unspecified spirits of the dead, forming a vast community of souls. With their masks, the Igbo contrast beauty with bestiality, feminine with masculine, black with white. The masks, made of wood or cloth, are used in a variety of dramas: social skits, sacred rituals (for ancestors and invocation of the gods), initiation, second burials, and public festivals, now including Christmas and Independence Day. Height: 42 cm Exhibition: “Africa Babel: The Art of a Continent”
 
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