The Baga people, who inhabit the coastline of Guinea-Conakry, are known for their large-scale, wooden sculptures – particularly their nimba masks representing femininity and fertility. This exhibition includes 11 examples that are being shown in public for the first time in 60 years, having been hidden in a sacred forest during the Sékou Touré regime; this exhibition aims to highlight the works’ spiritual and cultural as well as aesthetic significance. Find out more from the Israel Museum’s website.
Preview the exhibition below | View Apollo’s Art Diary here
A-tekan maternity figure with child (c. 1930), Baga people. Photo: Dorian Gottlieb
Shrine sculpture representing the bird Ano (late 19th–early 20th century), Baga people. Photo: Dorian Gottlieb
Banda mask (c. 1955), Baga/Nalu people. Photo: Dorian Gottlieb
Banda mask (c. 1955), Baga/Nalu people. Photo: Dorian Gottlieb
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When the Nazis pilloried modern art