Facing the Mask

Published to accompany the exhibition (2002). Both exhibition & catalogue introduce the arts of masking: one of the most important social and religious ritual activities of many African peoples. Organized into two section, it, firstly, shows how masks, as religious tools, are used as intermediaries between the world of the living and the supernatural universe, inhabited by ancestor and nature spirits; the second section focuses on the majorinspirational sources for masks: the human face, animals, and the combination of elements from different animals or the mixture of human and animal elements. Seventy-seven cataloged items are photographed in color, with text entry.