Photographs © Tim Hamill
BWA, PLANK MASK 5, Burkina Faso, 72", $800, SOLD
These tall headdresses transformed the dancer into a supernatural being. They were used by the Do society at dances to promote fertility of the fields and at funerals of Do members. The geometric designs all have meanings. The checkerboard pattern symbolizes the separation of light from dark, good from evil, and female from male.
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