Masks in the field

They are easily the most elegant of all mask tops, and anyone interested in African art immediately recognises them: the stylised antelopes called ciwara. As icons of African art they had a lasting influence on European avant-garde artists such as Braque and Picasso. These headpieces are part of the culture of the Bamana, the dominant group in Mali. Nowadays this ciwara is considered a national emblem, and images of the antelope headpiece are routinely mis-used commercially. These striking tops come in many variations and styles, and are arguably among the most intensely studied headpieces of the Mask Crescent. We would not dream of publishing a book on African masks without giving them the attention they so well deserve, and yet they form a curious footnote in the story of masquerading on the continent.

The scene is the village of Dyele in the south of Mali, where the anthropologist Jean-Paul Colleyn has brought a film team to ‘his’ village for a ciwara ceremony. It is the end of March, dry and hot, and the first rains are not due for another three months, but this is the ritual season, and the season for an agricultural rite.