Global Art & Artifacts

ancestral

Chokwe / Tchokwe Chikwekwe Bird Mask.  Angola

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    Chokwe are an ethnic group of Central and Southern Africa, primarily in Angola, Congo and Zambia.  They are regionally famous for their exceptional crafts work, particularly with baskets, pottery, mask carving, statues, stools and other handicrafts. The works of art include utilitarian objects, integrating Chokwe mythologies, oral… Continue reading

Ashanti Funerary Head. Sculpture. Ancestral. Akan.  Central Rain Forests. Ghana. Africa

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    Ashanti peoples – a major ethnic group of the Akans – transformed physicality to their beliefs about death and the afterlife through the medium of clay. From the second half of the sixteenth century, terracotta sculpture produced primarily by Ashanti women played a role in funerary rites .… Continue reading

Punu Lumbo Okuyi Mask.  Funerary.  Ancestral.  Ogooue River region.  Gabon

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    Well known for white-faced masks (Okuyi), the ethnic group that this was acquired from (Mpongwe) has two separate uses for masks like this.   Costumed ceremonies include rites of passage and funerary events.   This mask was used for the later.  The typical Okuyi performer wears a… Continue reading

Marka Mask.  Bamana Kingdom / People. Marka Tribe. Mali.  Africa

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  The over 2 million Bamana people form the largest ethnic group in Mali and occupy the savannah in the central portion of the country. The Bamana (aka Bambara) kingdom was founded in the 17th Century and reached their height of power in the mid- to late-1700s.   The Marka… Continue reading

Helmet Mask.  Suku or Basuku People. Rite of Passage. Kholuka.  DNC / Zaire.  Africa

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  Suku people have lived in the southwestern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo (formally Zaire) since the 16th Century.  Their economic source is farming but occasionally join in communal hunts.   Suku’s are known for their large carved figures (e.g. fertility figures, crouching fetish figures, ancestral statues… Continue reading

Large Rangda Mask of a Prince.  Hand Carved and Painted.  Bali.  Indonesia

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    Balinese masks are colorful, expressive, and full of spirit . . .  spirits from the ancestral world, that is.  These spirits or entities are represented in various stories of Hindu texts and – with masks and costumes – used in rituals and ceremonies.  However, Balinese… Continue reading
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