Mourning face mask "okuyi" ·  Gabon, Punu · ID: 3042400

Description

wood, black paint, red pigment, characteristic features: facial plane whitened with “pemba” (white clay), eyes half closed, striking flat nose and eyebrows in permanent line, slightly dam., abrasion of paint, crack, insect caused missing parts (coiffure/middle lobe), base;
belonging to the so-called “white-faced masks from the Ogue”. These masks represent female entities from the spirit world, fantastic beings who intervened in the villages on important collective occasions (bereavements, palavers, the birth of twins, times of epidemic, hunts for malevolent sorcerers).