Face Mask (Ngady Mwaash)
Kuba
1875–1950
- Medium
- Wood, pigment, glass beads, cowrie shells, fabric, and thread
- Dimensions
- 31.8 × 20.6 × 20.5 cm (12 1/2 × 8 1/8 × 10 in.)
- Genre
- masks
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago
Tags
royaloriginskingdomstring (fiber product)Central Africabeading (process)ceremonial maskcowrie shellappliqué (technique)masksperformancekuba (democratic republic of congo styleinorganic materialwood (plant material)african Artarts of Africawomencarvingclothadhesioncolorantpigmentglass beads
About
The ngady mwaash mask honors the role of women in Kuba life. It portrays a woman but, like other masks in Africa, is performed by a man. The most popular appearance of ngady mwaash is in a pantomime about the kingdom’s creation: ngady mwaash dances together with the mooshamb-wooy mask, representing the king (who is both her brother and her husband), and the bwoom mask [See 1982.1506].
