IDNO

N.13112.GIJ

Description

A masquerade performance in the centre of a village. The masquerader positioned in the centre of the photograph is wearing a wooden face mask painted with white geometric designs on the forehead and around the eyes which are defined by two large slits. On top of the mask is a large raffia headdress and fronds around the chin of the mask. The costume consists of loose, woven cloth and rattles around the ankles. Behind is a group of other masqueraders (five?) wearing painted face masks and raffia headdresses. In the background are bystanders and trees.

Physical Condition: Slight yellowing of negative.

Place

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

Cultural Affliation

Nkporo; Ada group; Cross River Igbo; Igbo

Named Person

Photographer

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

Collector / Expedition

Date

1932 - 1938

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:
Nkporo is a small clan in the North of the Bende Division hidden away between Item and Edda hills and noted mainly for its lepers and its land disputes. It has also a play. It borrowed it originally from Unwana on the Cross River, as did its neighbours Abiriba and Item, but the last-named two soon dropped it. Nkporo, not so progressive, kept it on, but Ibo-like introduced modifications of its own. In Unwana the costumes were made of local materials and none of the players’ bodies except their hands and feet were exposed. Nkporo players wore part native and part European dress, and reduced the size of the masks till they covered part of the face only, leaving the lower jaw and chin exposed. (Jones, 1939, p. 119.)

The Ada Ibo area
This group of tribes had their own specific styles of masks which were used in their initiation ceremonies. The style resembled that of the Lower Niger but the particular forms used were their own and, in the case of the abstract ones, unique. The masquerades were performed by the initiates at the close of their period of seclusion before their return to the community. The junior grade called Isigi...The senior grade was called Isiugo and its passing-out play Item Mbe. Many of the masks, like the small Lugulu masks of the neighbouring Item tribe, only covered part of the wearer’s face. (Jones, 1984, 210.)

Bibliographical References:
Jones, G.I., 1984. The Art of Eastern Nigeria (Cambridge University Press)
Jones. G.I. 1939, ‘Ifogo Nkporo’, Nigerian Field, VIII, No.3.

This catalogue record has been updated with the support of the Getty Grant Program Two. [Alicia Fentiman 23/10/2007]

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]