HEMBA and HEMBA STYLE ART, DRC

HEMBA STYLE
Masks

HEMBA STYLE
Couples

HEMBA STYLE
Figures

HEMBA
Head 1


HEMBA STYLE
Figures

HEMBA STYLE
Couples

HEMBA STYLE
Figures



The Hemba objects below have been SOLD and are left here for reference and educational purposes.

 

HEMBA STYLE
Passport Masks
4.25" - 5.5" high
ALL SOLD

HEMBA
Janus Post 1 (SOLD)


Photographs © Hamill Gallery

HEMBA, ART, Democratic Republic of Congo

The extremely stylized chimpanzee masks are called mwisi gwa so'o a term that alludes to the "spirit-ivested object of the chimpanzee human" that inhabits the mask. The mwisi gwa so'o masqueraders wear a costume of aniumal skin, barkcloth and the hair of Colobis monkeys. Their raucous dances, performed at funeral and memorial services, reflect Hemba ideas about death and social chaos and stand in diametrical opposition to the otherwise ordered world of the living. (from African Masks from the Barbier-Mueller Collection by Hahner-Herzog, Kecskesi and Vajda.)

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