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Seri Mask Honoring Mami Wata

Seri Mask Honoring Mami Wata

Unknown

Seri masquerades entertain, surprise, and delight dance competition spectators with inventiveness and agility. Mami Wata, a water spirit worshipped throughout Africa, crowns this mask. Her image is based on a 19th-century German image of a snake charmer that came to Africa around 1900, denoting her association with international commerce and wealth. Her presence in Seri celebrated beauty, prosperity, status, and modernity.
Artist
Unknown (Ivorian, Guro People)
Title
Seri Mask Honoring Mami Wata
Date
1960s
Medium
Wood, enamel paint
Dimensions
21 9/16 x 12 9/16 x 6 1/8 in. Overall
Credit
J. David and Laura Seefried Horsfall Endowment Fund purchase
Accession No.
2001.8
Classification
Sculpture
Geography
Ivory Coast (Côte d'Ivoire)

Related

2001, sold by Craft Caravan, Inc. to the Elvehjem Museum of Art [now called Chazen Museum of Art]

  • Exhibition gallery guide, "Revealing Forms: African Art from the Elvehjem Collection." 2002.
  • Drewal, Henry John. "African Art at the Elvehjem." Bulletin/Biennial Report 2001-2003. Elvehjem Museum of Art (2003): 16-36. pp. 16-36
  • Rarey, Matthew Francis and Henry John Drewal. "Never at Rest: African Art at the University of Wisconsin." African Arts, vol 53, no. 4 (2020): 68-85. fig. 12

  • Revealing Forms: African Art from the Collection: Elvehjem Museum of Art, 4/20/2002–6/16/2002

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