Shawn Athari

Contemporary Glass Artist

African Masks

Ritual and ceremonial masks are an essential feature of the traditional culture and art of the peoples of Subsaharan and West Africa. While the specific implications associated to ritual masks widely vary in different cultures, some traits are common to most African cultures: e.g., masks usually have a spiritual and religious meaning and they are used in ritual dances and social and religious events, and a special status is attributed to the artists that create masks and to those that wear them in ceremonies. In most cases, mask-making is an art that is passed on from father to son, along with the knowledge of the symbolic meanings conveyed by such masks.

Masks are one of the elements of African art that have most evidently influenced European and Western art in general; in the 20th century, artistic movements such as cubism, fauvism and expressionism have often taken inspiration from the vast and diverse heritage of African masks. Influences of this heritage can also be found in other traditions such as South- and Central American masked Carnival parades.

In most traditional African cultures, the person who wears a ritual mask conceptually loses his or her human identity and turns into the spirit represented by the mask itself.


Click on the individual mask styles under the Africa button to see the various African styles that I make.





aduma Example
Aduma

2nd-Aduma-Example
Aduma Second

AkuBa Example
Akua’Ba Doll

Baufle Example
Baule

Bedu Example
Bedu

BoBoFing Example
Bobo-Fing

Dual Example
Dual

Fang Example
Fang

Grebo Example
Grebo

Kifwebe Example
Kifwebe

Kota Example
Kota

Kra Example
Kra

Kuba Example
Kuba

Nigerian Example
Nigerian Forth

Plank Example
Plank

Yaure Wxample
Yaure