Masks reveal unknown worlds

Nwantantay mask, Burkina Faso, Wood, hemp, 248×65×27cm.

In the south of Burkina Faso, Bwa sculptor-blacksmiths make blade masks. Dressed in an enveloping costume made of fibre, the mask-wearers perform dances that are truly acrobatic feats. These highly energetic dances, which are performed on marked day, during the dry season, or for farming festivals, funeral rites or initiation rites, materialise the vital force which Do culture sees as breathing life into the supernatural beings that live in the bush.

These masks are highly stylised and display a very rich polychrome design, in which the geometric ornamentations hide symbolic value. Indeed, these graphic motifs resemble a language of the spirits which acts as a communication system that transmits rules and interdicts, where the triangle represents the antelope and the alternating checkwork symbolises knowledge and ignorance.