Mask

Celebrating Femine Beauty and Cultural Pride

Female Mask, Okuyi or Mukudj

Punu peoples, Gabon

Wood, pigment

This mask does not have a lot of colour, but this is because of the culture it came from where whit faces were often represented.  This white face represents femininity and beauty.  Lines are used between the nose and ears of the mask to represent jewellery.  Many shapes are used to form this mask, the forehead is round and the eyes are oval shaped with a small nose and lips.   

Youthful Spirit

Mask,Kple kple

Baule peoples, Côte d'Ivoire

Wood, pigment

Because this mask is from a lower status and only represents a minor spirit, the mask is very simple and lacks detail.  The shape and form are simple and there are is almost one texture through the entire mask.  The horns on the mask are very large compared to the rest of the mask.

A Flying Spirit

Nwantantay mask

Bwa peoples, Côte d'Ivoire

Wood, pigment

The spirit that is represented by this mask has no shape or form so the shape and form is up to the artist.  The symbols on this mask, such as the X’s, the checkerboard pattern, and the white crescent represent certain aspects of the spirit.

I chose these three masks because I wanted to represent the spirit of Fall/Autumn and I believe that other masks that represent spirits will help me create a spirit mask of my own. 

The Sketches:

The Final Mask:

This mask uses the same white face as the first inspirational one I used, I used colour by implementing the Fall colours of the leaves.  I used simple shapes and forms just as in the one example spirit mask, the different sized and colour leaves creates texture for the mask, and the teeth can be looked at as a pattern.  I really enjoyed making this mask because I had to look for inspiration and I love the colours and spirit of fall so I figured why not make a mask about it.