Article
Magazine: Summer 2016
Works of art are often deemed complete when they leave the artist's hand. In African art, however, artists frequently sculpted or took the first steps toward defining a work's underlying form, and then a range of owners or ritual specialists assumed responsibility for the life and appearance of the object, adding to or subtracting from its surface. Over many years in an expert's service or under a community's protection, a work of art would evolve through use and wear, ritual sacrifices, or the addition of materials of empowerment.
Masks and headdresses are especially dynamic art forms, their surfaces sometimes repainted by new owners, whether to refresh their appearance for perfor- mances or to draw on the symbolism and power of particular colors. [...] The Kurumba headdress from Burkina Faso representing an antelope displays painted decorative spots and attached red seeds while also revealing subtle wear on the neck and along the snout, where a masquerader would have grasped the piece in order to lift it onto his head and steady it while dancing to honor ancestors and spirits.
Masks and headdresses are especially dynamic art forms, their surfaces sometimes repainted by new owners, whether to refresh their appearance for perfor- mances or to draw on the symbolism and power of particular colors. [...] The Kurumba headdress from Burkina Faso representing an antelope displays painted decorative spots and attached red seeds while also revealing subtle wear on the neck and along the snout, where a masquerader would have grasped the piece in order to lift it onto his head and steady it while dancing to honor ancestors and spirits.
