Deformation mask "idiok ekpo" ·  Nigéria, Ibibio · ID: 3034996

---

Description

wood, blackish brown patina, large face with zigzag beard, crowned by an ornamental crest with scrolled snakes, the regular face destroyed by a deformed nose, even the right eye already seems to be affected, remains of a bonnet and a costume backside, slightly dam., minor missing parts (zigzag beard, eyes, headcrest), socle;
during mask performances, reincarnated ancestors who were immoral, agitated, and wayward are represented in masks called “idiok ekpo”, whose moral ugliness is indicated by the dark surfaces and disfigurations from diseases like gangosa, facial paralysis, tumours, and harelips. Gangosa is designated as “no-nose” by English-speaking Ibibio. It is characterized by destruction of the nose and occurs in later stages of yaws and endemic syphilis (non-venereal syphilis). Another type of nasal deformity in Ibibio masks is the so-called “ibuo akwanga” or “twisted” nose.

---

Littérature comparée

Wittmer, Marcilene K., Arnett, William, Three Rivers of Nigeria, Atlanta 1978, p. 68 f. Herreman, Frank, To cure and protect, New York 1999, p. 22, ill. 12

---

Publications

Expo.Catalogue, Masques du Monde/Het Masker in de Wereld, Brussels, 1974, ill. 52; De Smet, Peter A. G. M., Herbs, health, healers, Berg en Dal 1999, p. 26

---

Exposition

Masques du Monde/Het Masker in de Wereld, Brussels 1974, ill. 52; Herbs, health, healers, Berg en Dal 1999

---