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Epa/Elefon Mask,
Yoruba People, Nigeria
Wood pigment African Art Museum Collection, 19 ,
commissioned at the workshop at Ekiti, Nigeria by Father Kevin Carroll, SMA, at
the request of Father Kevin Scanlan, SMA |
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The EPA/Elefon masks of the are helmet-shaped
 masks that cover the wearer's head and rest on his
shoulders. They are commissioned by a particular lineage to commemorate
important events and persons in the community, and are kept in the shrine of a
family patriarch or town chief. Although Epa masks show a variety of form, they
are usually composed of two parts: ikoko, the mask proper with an abstracted
face with bulging eyes and igi, the superstructure with fully sculpted
anthropomorphic or zoomorphic figures. The ikoko refer to the supernatural and
ancestral world; the igi summons up mankind's tangible world and is a
reflection of the various role patterns upon which Yoruba society is based. Our
example show a rider on horseback surrounded by his entourage in relative
scale, that is, the more important the person, the larger he is in proportion
to others. The masquerader, wearing the very heavy Epa mask, jumps onto a
flat-topped mound that stands for 'the land of the ancestors'. He sees through
the rectangular openings at the base. |
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