IDNO

N.13133.GIJ

Description

Part of the Nkporo Ifogu masquerade.
Ogbo (clown) masquerader wearing a stylised human face mask and a raffia sack cloth costume. The mask is painted two toned (white and black) and the eyes are bulging and the nose and lips are comical and overly exaggerated. There are painted lines on the face from the bottom of the eyes to the chin. There are two feathers on the top of the mask. A gourd is hanging from a string round his neck, and there are raffia fronds around the ankles. A shallow woven basket is on the ground beside his feet. In the background, children and adults sit beside a thatched building.

Physical Condition: Slight yellowing of negative.

Place

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

Publication: Same image published on John McCall’s G.I. Jones website with the following information: [Source: www.siu.edu/~anthro/mccall/jones/, AF ]
1. Index to Nkporo Igbo
2. Ogbo (Clown) mask and masquerade band, Boys initiation, Etiti Ama (19th image).

Context: Jones describes the Ifogu Nkporo masquerade in depth and the clown character or Ogbo dressed as a women. In reference to the clown character, he observes, “After [the band] came two clowns... [the second clown was masked, and] represented an old woman and carried a knife, a sifting basket and a small gourd container slung round his neck. This clown kept up an endless imitation of an old woman catching crayfish, or danced in an outlandish fashion that delighted the crowd.” (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 29/10/2007]

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]