Object Name: Mask
Place of Origin: Cote d’Ivoire
Materials Used: Wood, paint, rubber
Date: Circa 1970’s
Dimensions: H: 56.0 cm, W: 22.2 cm, D: 10.5 cm (H: 22.0 in, W: 8.7 in, D: 4.1 in)
Credit Line and Accession Number: Fowler Museum at UCLA. Gift of Philip Ravenhill and Judith Timyan. X95.43.6

Given the endless array of mask images, Mami Wata was especially popular among the Baule in the 1970s and 1980s. These masks are usually painted in a range of bright enamel colors, ocher, red, white, and black. The lower face is often crimson or bright pink with black scarifications and an elaborate coiffure. Above this face is the superstructure, Mami Wata handles snakes, one circling overhead and held in her hand and another around her waist. One mask, with a brightly painted, pink lower face, is framed by a thick collar that suggests that hand of a Yuare artist.

Source: Drewal, Henry John. (2008) “Mami Wata: Arts for Water Spirits in Africa and Its Diasporas”, Los Angeles, UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History. page 83