Introduction
Addressing the question of new masks in Africa today is not just about the aesthetics and ethics of collaborations . . . It’s also, and above all, a question of envisaging new ways of collecting and exhibiting them.
—Hervé Youmbi
Masquerade is among the most vibrant, dynamic, and long-standing expressive art forms found around the world today. New African Masquerades: Artistic Innovations and Collaborations shares the stories of four distinguished masquerade artists working today across West Africa: David Sanou in Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso; Chief Ekpenyong Bassey Nsa in Calabar, Nigeria; Sheku “Goldenfinger” Fofanah in Freetown, Sierra Leone; and Hervé Youmbi in Douala and the Grassfields of Cameroon.
Centering the artists’ voices offers a new perspective on masquerade arts, and their ensembles demonstrate that creativity in African masquerade is fundamentally contemporary, highly collaborative and innovative in nature, socially and geographically mobile, and innately connected to global markets.
The exhibition illustrates the many roles masquerade arts play: from spiritual or religious activities to entertaining and joyful celebrations; from highly secretive or private settings to the public stage of city streets and courtyards. Nearly all of the ensembles were commissioned expressly for this exhibition, and some genres have never before been authorized for display to audiences abroad.
Despite masquerade’s persistence and vitality within art and culture, its artists have often not had agency over how their work is displayed in museum settings. The featured artists actively participated in the development and installation of this project. For more about this collaborative process, visit Masquerades.NOMA.org.
What Is Masquerade?
Masquerade in West Africa defies universal definition and is by nature a living, changing practice. Masquerade is a noun and a verb, referring to both the objects worn and the performance itself. Broadly considered, the masquerades on view here are three-dimensional reflections of concepts or ideas that are presented in a public or private event wherein humans, and sometimes spirits, participate to connect to one another.
Occasions for masquerade vary, and works might express political solidarity, celebrate individuals or holidays, seek spiritual or ancestral guidance, revitalize community bonds, educate on civic duties, or critique society. Performances are often theatrical and dramatic—almost always including choreography and gestures, dance and music, audience participation, and shared food and drink. Primarily men, the artists and performers who enact masquerade are highly trained professionals, honored for their craft.
Masquerade is dynamic, reflecting the beauty, experiences, and plurality of humanity itself.
When you think of “masquerade,” what comes to mind? How might it differ from what these artists present?
David Sanou
David Sanou began his apprenticeship in his father André Sanou’s studio in Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso, at the age of thirteen. The commercial studio is renowned for innovating new forms of masquerade, both when it was run by André Sanou until his retirement in 2009, and now by his son. In addition to headpieces of longstanding mask genres, individuals can commission new forms such as a Photo Mask headpiece carved to closely resemble a deceased loved one, or a Compromise Kimi headpiece, which balances the dramatic naturalism of Photo Masks.
David Sanou’s clients are largely affluent individuals who are consistent patrons of masquerade in their hometowns or districts. Historically, blacksmiths carved mask headpieces in this region. Today, due to the reputation of the studio and the high quality of its work, David Sanou, who is not a blacksmith, receives more high-status commissions from elite patrons and more commissions overall than any other sculptor in the region.
The masquerade genres on view in this section emerge during the daytime in the Bobo-Dioulasso area of southwestern Burkina Faso. Masks there perform for initiation into the masquerade association, harvest celebrations, installations of chiefs, national festivals, the honoring of visiting dignitaries, and occasionally on invitation—but their presence at annual funeral celebrations is the most extravagant. In David Sanou’s home district of Tounouma, one of these ceremonial genres is the Kimi, but a variation of the Kimi—with differing patterns and colors and belonging to individual families—also performs to create ambiance and liveliness, honor deceased friends and relatives, and generally dazzle with increased variety, color, and composition.
Kimi masquerades evoke hornbill birds—which are renowned for their wisdom and intellect—and are one of the oldest masquerade genres. They are recognizable by their long curving beaks, brightly painted openwork superstructures, and long fibrous “bodies.” Their abstract nature offers artists creative freedom and numerous opportunities for innovation.
In line with the artist’s wishes, the ensembles here give the impression of circular movement. In performance, the dancer rapidly spins about the central performance area, encircled by cheering audiences. The brightly dyed, bushy fibers of its body whirl out, churning up dust, excitement, and admiration.
The makers of masquerade bodies are never publicly identified in the Bobo-Dioulasso region and have requested anonymity. In keeping with this practice, they are not named in any of the labels.
Chief Ekpenyong Bassey NSA
Chief Ekpenyong Bassey Nsa was born in Calabar South, Cross River State, Nigeria, and is a renowned third-generation artist of Efik ethnicity specializing in the creation of masquerade ensembles and choreography, beadwork, chieftaincy attire, cultural knowledge (such as nsibidi), and funeral shrines. He learned this profession from his father, the late Chief Bassey Ekpenyong Nsa (1933–1997), who was a noted artist in his time and is credited with modernizing masquerade ensembles for the Ekpe secret society central to Efik culture as well as throughout southeast Nigeria and west Cameroon.
Chief Bassey Nsa’s artistry is deeply tied to the Ekpe society and his father’s legacy. Initiated into Ekpe at a young age, he was conferred with the Ekpe chieftaincy title, Obong Murua Okpoho, in 2009. His art is intertwined with family and cultural practices, with every work beginning with a libation, or ritual pouring of liquid as an offering, to his father. Bassey Nsa’s abilities in manipulating color, compositional balance, and incorporating new materials distinguish him from other artists in Calabar. His commissions extend throughout the Cross River region as well as to international institutions.
Chief Bassey Nsa’s masquerades represent a number of key genres found in the Ekpe Society, as well as others used for entertainment purposes. Based in ancestor veneration, Ekpe is the region’s most prestigious cultural and political association. It makes use of masquerade, ritual, and public performance to showcase its continued contemporary vitality.
On view in this gallery are an Idem Ebonko—performed at most daytime Ekpe events, especially when a member is initiated to the rank of chief, and a red and black Idem Ikwo with nsibidi motifs known by Ekpe members. The latter stalks the streets using movements reflecting a lion or leopard—acting as the Ekpe Society’s guard during public outings and attracting the attention of women, children, and noninitiates. In contrast, Idem Ebonko dances with a more refined and regal grace.
The flashy, tufted Afia Awan—which is not part of the Ekpe Society—faces these ensembles and compliments a bride’s beauty at weddings. It also presents opportunities for competitive artistic innovation. Intentionally separated is an Idem Nkanda, made from indigo-dyed ukara cloth and only witnessed by advanced Ekpe members within the confines of the Society’s lodge. It performs primarily upon the death of a paramount ruler or lodge head, its movements mirroring that of a fish in recognition of Ekpe’s role in maritime trade. Sacred and rarely performed, it is highly anticipated by members.
Sheku “Goldfinger” Fofanah
Sheku “Goldenfinger” Fofanah was born in Freetown, Sierra Leone, and is known for his intricate and innovative designs and his ability to successfully blend the “fancy” and “fierce” aesthetics common to Sierra Leonean masquerade arts. Based in the Fourah Bay community, he is the resident kotu (builder/artist) of Gladiators Power Ordehlay Society (cofounded by his father) and contributes to other societies such as Tourist Ojeh and Omo Jessah Hunting Society.
Fofanah’s work spans various masquerade genres, including Jollay, Ordehlay, and Hunting, and his designs are sought after in Sierra Leone, the Gambia, and internationally in Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom, illustrating how masquerades serve not only as performative art forms but also as symbols of identity and connectivity in a rapidly changing world. Fofanah’s designs are part of prestigious collections, including that of the Sierra Leone National Museum. His work has been displayed for national celebrations, such as the British Museum’s commission for Sierra Leone’s golden independence anniversary.
Ordehlay masquerade ensembles come out on holidays in Sierra Leone—Christmas, Boxing Day (the day after Christmas), New Year’s, and Independence Day (April 27)—and on similar celebratory occasions in diasporic contexts. Up to twenty a day will parade through the streets of Freetown and other cities to represent neighborhood-based cultural groups or “societies”—each competing to have the most impressive ensemble, locally known as a “devil.”
The two masquerade ensembles nearby are also an entertainment variety known as Jollay that emerges at celebratory occasions such as weddings, cultural events, parades, and the end of Ramadan (Eid al-Fitr), reflecting ideals of peace and love. It was imported from Ghana in the 1960s or ’70s—a reminder of masquerade’s international mobility and appeal.
To honor the long economic and cultural relationship of Sierra Leone to the United States, the Oli Papa (“old man”) and Ordehlay ensembles created by Sheku Fofanah feature the red, white, and blue colors of the American flag in the top half of the ensemble, and the blue, green, and white colors of the Sierra Leonean flag on the bottom.
Hervé Youmbi
Hervé Youmbi was born in Bangui, Central African Republic, and raised in Douala, Cameroon. He is a celebrated contemporary artist deeply influenced by Africa’s complex history. Youmbi’s conceptual practice explores issues of identity, power, and the legacy of colonialism through portraiture and hybrid masks bridging the gap between traditional African rituals and the global contemporary art world.
Youmbi’s contributions to this project honor his collaborations with skilled artists in the Grassfields region of Cameroon. Working collaboratively allows Youmbi to successfully navigate established masquerade society rules and create exciting hybrid masks that blend popular cross-cultural icons with renowned genres of masquerade.
Notions of circulation run through Youmbi’s work. By traveling sculptural works that have been ritually enacted in “the field” into art galleries and museums— and making allowance for them to return afterward if their new owners desire—he creates relationships between institutions and communities of origin, challenges the permanence and function of artworks in museums, and breaks the dichotomy between African “classical art” and “contemporary art.”
Hervé Youmbi’s work undermines Western ideas concerning “African art,” old and new. Combining disparate cultural sources, Youmbi’s contemporary masks are “ritually empowered” and carefully documented in “ethnographic” performance footage. According to the artist—and with a bit of tongue-in-cheek—this qualifies them as “authentic traditional African art” and as “two-faced masks” of both contemporary art and ethnographic artifacts.
Here, Youmbi chose a new installation technique, grouping three different installations into one. Suspended in the center of this space are the Tso Scream Mask ensemble with another two of his hybrid masks, anchoring the installation’s other components. Nearby, two types of artist-authored museum labels for each mask critique how museums prioritize information about works of art to convey authority. The artist’s “field photos” documenting the “ritual” contexts of the masks are hung above a selection of their corresponding shipping and customs documents. Nearby are the actual crates these works have been shipped in—all of which Youmbi considers part of the artwork itself, elevating the disregarded shipping elements into precious objects. Finally, three short videos created specifically for the exhibition document his collaborative process and highlight the often-overlooked cocreators of the masks—Alassane Mfouapon (carver), Frédéric Feudjeueck and David Kengné (coiffure/wig makers), Ngwa Kingsley Shu’s workshop (tailor), and Marie Kouam (beader). Also notable is a focus on artist and Ku’ngang Society member Hervé Yamguen.
For more about each of the “lives” these masks have lived and where they have traveled to, visit NOMA.org/Youmbi-Works-Travel.
