Insights into the BUNDU Mask
Text extracts on the mask are courtesy of Dr Olusegun Morakinyo. The images reproduced here are copyright of National Museums NI.
“This mask through its refined execution and harmonious design is the work of a master carver. It is apparently carved from a single piece of cotton tree (Kpole) wood and weighs around four pounds.”
“The mask seems to have been ‘collected’ from Sierra Leone in 1930. It is possible that the mask was carved prior to 1930, almost a 100 years ago, which says a lot about the level of artistic craftmanship of the carver and level of industry in Africa at the time.”
“Helmet masks of this kind represent the guardian spirit of the ancestors and are worn during graduation procession by the leader of the initiates at performances that celebrate the completion of the young initiates training period.”
“The Mende inhabit an area of nearly 12,000 square miles lying almost entirely in the southern half of the modern state of Sierra Leone…The Mende are the largest single ethnic group in Sierra Leone, slightly outnumbering their northern neighbours, the Temne.”
“While originally it had more spiritual rather than artistic significance, this type of mask is of particular interest within African art both because it is the only documented mask which is worn by women and because it is the most important object made by Mende woodcarvers.”
