Mask Head (Kagba or Navige)

When it was performed, this antelope mask head was vertically attached to a tent-shaped construction made from twigs and colored fabric, which hid a male dancer underneath. Kagba appeared primarily at funerals and initiations organized by the all-male Poro association. The last sculptures of this type were apparently created in the early 1960s, when local iconoclastic movements and the unrest triggered by Côte d’Ivoire’s struggle for independence led to the cessation of these practices.