Object Name: Mask Ensemble
Place of Origin: Nigeria
Cultural Group: Yoruba peoples
Materials Used: Cloth, glass beads, cowrie shells, leather, synthetic leather, plant fiber, string, thread
Dimensions: H:173 cm, W: 52 cm, D: 43 cm (H: 68.1 in, W: 20.4 in, D: 16.9 in)
Credit Line and Accession Number: Fowler Museum at UCLA. Museum Purchase. X96.3.7

Massive interlaces on beaded panels both front and back proclaim that past, present, and future are part of the infinite cycle of existence: birth, life, departure, return. They recall the whirling return of the past into the present, and simultaneously, the spiraling outward departure on new life journeys into the future. This ensemble embodies the adage of aye l’ajo, orun nile (life is a journey, the afterlife is home).

Source: Drewal, H., Mason, J. (1998). “Beads, Body, and Soul – Art and Light in the Yoruba Universe”, Los Angeles: UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History. page 270