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

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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

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.)