Male helmet mask "muti wa lipiko" ("head of the lipiko")

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Description

light kapok wood, colour pigments, human hair, indigenous repair, missing parts, base

Impressive physiognomy with strongly undercut eyes and painted pupils. The face is covered with geometric scarifications.

Masked dancers “lipiko” (pl. “mapiko”) represent the spirits of deceased ancestors “midimu” (sing. “ndimu”) who have temporarily returned from the dead to attend the final celebrations of the initiation of boys and girls.

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Comparing literature

Phillips, Tom (Hg.), Afrika, Die Kunst eines Kontinents, Berlin 1996, p. 170

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