IDNO

N.13113.GIJ

Description

A masquerader known as Ogwu Aba (singer) performing in the Nkporo Ifogu masquerade wearing a loose raffia costume, a raffia headdress, and a striped raffia net ‘mask’ which tapers to a point. He is carrying a wooden staff. There is a crowd and two thatched buildings in the background.

Physical Condition: Slight yellowing of 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 - 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: 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.

This catalogue record has been updated with the support of the Getty Grant Program Two. [Alicia Fentiman 24/10/2007]

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]