Provenance

Totem Meneghelli Gallery, Johannesburg

Notes

A Yoruba Gelede mask is a carved wooden headdress used in the Gelede masquerade tradition of the Yoruba people of southwestern Nigeria and Benin. These masks are worn during performances that honor and appease the spiritual power of women—particularly 'our mothers' (awon iya wa)—who are believed to possess potent creative and destructive forces.

Gelede masks typically combine human and animal features, often with elaborate superstructures depicting scenes of daily life, animals, or symbolic motifs. They are brightly painted and worn with colourful costumes during Gelede festivals, which feature drumming, singing, and dance aimed at promoting social harmony, fertility, and community well-being.

In essence, the Gelede mask embodies a visual and performative expression of balance—between genders, the human and the spiritual, and the natural and social worlds.