African Masks

A Fang Ngil mask from Gabon — one of the most recognisable forms in African mask carving

No two masks in our collection mean the same thing. Each comes from a specific people, a specific ceremony, a specific belief about what a carved face can do. Here's some of the story behind a few of ours.

The Fang Ngil mask — Gabon

Hand-carved in the tradition of the Fang people of Gabon, the white-faced Ngil mask is built from elegant abstraction rather than likeness: a heart-shaped hollow, a long tapering nose, serene closed features. It was worn by initiates of the Ngil society, who would appear by torchlight after dark — the pale face designed to read clearly in firelight. As a decorative piece today, it reads as pure sculpture, just as striking leaned against a shelf as hung on a wall.

Our Bobo sun mask from Burkina Faso is a large round wall hanging, about a metre across, in a white-washed finish. Sun masks like this appear at agricultural and harvest festivals, honouring the sun's power to bring a healthy crop, and the chequerboard of light and dark pigment stands for innocence and knowledge. The bold, abstract forms of the Bwa and Bobo were a real influence on early 20th-century Western art.

Masks of authority and social order

Not every mask is about performance for its own sake — some carry real institutional weight. Our Songye kifwebe mask from the Democratic Republic of the Congo belonged to the bwadi bwa kifwebe society and was worn at ceremonies as a figure of authority, the deep parallel grooves carved across the face and picked out in pigment. Bold and graphic, with a high domed forehead and strong features, it's as much a piece about social order as it is a striking carved object.

The smallest masks were never worn at all

Not every mask in the tradition was made for performance. West African passport masks are miniature — small enough to sit in the palm of a hand — and were carried in a pocket or worn around the neck as protective charms, moving between the living and spirit worlds rather than appearing on a dance floor. Each culture had its own distinct style, so the masks doubled as a form of tribal identity. They make a lovely small curio for a shelf on their own, or grouped together in a cluster of three or four.

Every mask we sell is hand-carved, one-off, and comes with its own story.

Shop African Masks  ·  Shop Wall Art