IDNO

N.13099.GIJ

Description

Two masquerader known as Ogu Aba (singer) performing in the Nkporo Ifogu masquerade wearing loose raffia costumes, raffia headdresses, and striped raffia net ‘masks’ which taper to a point. They are holding a wooden staffs. There is a crowd and thatched buildings in the background.

Physical Condition: Slight yellowing of buckling negative.

Place

W Africa; Nigeria; Eastern Nigeria; Cross River; Etitiama village

Cultural Affliation

Igbo [historically Ibo]; Nkporo

Named Person

Photographer

Jones, Gwilliam Iwan (known as G.I.)

Collector / Expedition

Date

1932 - 1939

Collection Name

Jones Collection

Source

Jones, Gwilliam Iwan (known as G.I.)

Format

Film Negative Black & White

Primary Documentation

Other Information

This negative was kept in a film storage album labelled “Masks & Plays - Nkporo.” by G. I. Jones, and numbered “C11/” by the cataloguer.

Context: Jones describes this character in his 1939 article ‘Ifogu Nkporo’: “Then came two announcers, creatures with similar snouts and covered from top to toe in loose raffia till they looked like perambulating hayricks. They carried staffs in their hands and wandered about making announcements which nobody listened to.” (Jones.G.I. 1939, p.120).

Bibliographical Reference: Jones, G.I. 1939, ‘Ifogu Nkporo’, Nigerian Field, Vol.VIII, pp.119-121.

Publication: The photograph has been digitised for the European Collected Library of Artistic Performance (ECLAP) and is accessible on the portal http://www.eclap.eu/drupal/. [SG 30/10/2012]

This catalogue record has been updated with the support of the Getty Grant Program Two. [Alicia Fentiman 30/10/2007]