Typical Akan Mask. Description: Round facial mask (Large); diameter outlined with cowries 24 left, 25 right; Four animal pattern decoration made with small colored beads two above the eyes two below; Mouth wide open.
Dimensions: 49 cm diameter.
These are types of mask commonly made in Ghana as part of a new insurgence of new forms of traditional spirituality in art. Originally, they only served the local population as healing objects but more and more visitors coming to Ghana find us beautiful and useful and as such, many of their kind have found their way into the art market. We are used as a healing object when a patient has problems with visions coming from the ancestral world. The person has nightmares and cannot sleep because of bad dreams and other forms of imaginations. This particularly the case for people who have migrated into the urban areas and for some time have lost contact with their kin relations. When these kin members die, they are sometimes unable to travel home to perform the funeral. These figures are given to the healer who will use them to get rid of the bad dreams and nightmares of the patient.