mask

Small mask in clear colors, red-white-black. Two sharp bird beaks start on top of the trip. down and meet in the middle of the mask, two triangular holes can be thought of as eyes. The mask rests on a foundation of a bast. The mask from Afikpo Igbo in southeastern Nigeria is called Otogho. Afikpo believes that this mask resembles a bird and the very name Otogho means: “to peck like a bird.” The mask can also be called Otogho kpo kpo, which refers to otogho as the name of a woodpecker and kpo kpo as his pecking sound. The mask is characterised by the two projections that start on the top and bottom of the mask to then target one another, to meet almost in the middle of the mask. See image 54 in Simon Ottenberg’s book Masked rituals of Afikpo: The 54 of an African art. The type is different from other Afikpo masks and is used by members of a secret company. Ottenberg writes that this mask is a good example of how Igbo uses masks with an animal-like shape to point to human qualities in his masquerades. The Otoghomask can be used to play a man who is far too boastful. In the game logholo (see p.184), where the wearer of the mask is hunted by uninitiated boys, Otogho tightens the mask around to show his strength and speed. The wearer, together with the mask, wears a wooden jacket called obuke and a palm leaf skirt. The mask and the costume are called the togho of initiates and the obuke of uninitiated. In the television film “To See to Remain,” part 4, Birgit Åkesson says that no fish escapes the beak’s knip pliers and that the mirror-turned colours may indicate that the mask can also see under water. Simon Ottenberg writes in an email to Wilhelm Östberg 050525 concerning Afikpo’s masks: Afikpo-style masks Aby Afikpo carvers at museum and elsewhere in Nigeria and have Ain European and American African art galleries so that she (Birgit Åkesson) Ahave have AAA There are carvers at Afikpo There sell them to expatriates There come to visit Afikpo as well. They have been used for the needs of the local performance. While I say that they mask is not a love good one that does not mean that it must not be enough.