ETHAF 032311

masque

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032311
Gyè antelope mask
Ivory Coast, Daloa, Zidio or Bégafla region
Southern Guro. First half of the 20th century
Wood, pigments, plant fibres
Acquired from the German ethnologist Hans Himmelheber in 1964; collected by him in 1963
MEG Inv. ETHAF 032311
Geolocate the object
In the south of the Guro cultural area, gyè (jyè or dyè) animal masks (buffaloes, antelopes, hippopotamuses, elephants) come out in groups in the daytime mingled with a few masks with human faces, whereas in the north of the same area, the antelope mask appears alone and at night. Women are forbidden to look at them because they are believed to have once let the spirits of the masks die of thirst.

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West Africa

Deprived of their costumes, adornments, torchlight and rhythmic movements, the "masks" are no longer what they were when they danced in their original context; in the museum they become mere fragments. But they escape from their dry ethnic classification to conjure up some of the great cults of sub-Saharan Africa which have existed alongside Islam since the eleventh century.

Initiation Societies and their Masks

In West Africa, as elsewhere on the African continent, masks and other sacred objects are used by initiation societies which communicate with the higher powers and exploit secret knowledge. In the course of rituals controlled by qualified officiants, these masks unleash and guide forces to influence social interaction between people, spirits and ancestors. The masks are sometimes powerful weapons in the fight against witchcraft.

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