IDNO

N.13131.GIJ

Description

Masked character dancing, wearing a small white face mask with raffia headdress and rectangular ?sack-cloth suspended from chin of mask, trousers and a striped cloth, and ankle-rattles. Another character wearing sack-cloth trousers is partially obscured by the character described above.

In the background crowds are sitting and standing in front of a thatched building. The band members (wearing raffia headdresses) are sitting under a tree at the left, and there are two “announcers” near the crowds (one at left and one at far right) wearing loose raffia costumes and headdresses, with their faces covered with a raffia net ‘mask’ which tapers to a point.

Physical Condition: Slight yellowing of negative.

Place

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

Cultural Affliation

Igbo [historically Ibo]

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.

Publication: Same image published on John McCall’s G.I. Jones website with the following information: [Source: www.siu.edu/~anthro/mccall/jones/, AF ]ww.siu.edu/~anthro/mccall/jones/, under,
1. Index to Nkporo Igbo
2. Dancing masker, Boys initiation, Obohia (9th image).

Context: In reference to the Ifogu Masquerade Jones writes that Nkporo has 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 the hands and feet were exposed. Nkporo players sore 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 goes on to describe the various characters in the masquerade. (Jones, 1939, p.119)

Bibliographical Reference: Jones, G.I., 1984. The Art of Eastern Nigeria (Cambridge University Press); 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 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]