Mask

This type of mask isn't made for wearing or dancing, but for display either during a ceremony or in the men's house. They are also made for the market.

Turtle shell and basketry face mask. The dark red clay(?) face is built on the rounded outside of a turtle shell and surrounded by a thick basketry edge with a woven loop at the top for hanging. The mask has short, curly, dark brown hair attached along the top of the forehead. The face is painted with a black pigment with horizontal stripes and rows of triangles. The narrow pointed nose, mouth, and ears are prominently built-out with clay, and detailed. The mouth is painted black with a red slit down the centre of the bottom lip. The ears are pierced with a hole at the top, outer, and bottom edges. The eyes are inlaid cowrie shells with built out eye sockets and horizontal black stripes underneath. The edge of the face is outlined with face down cowrie shells. The forehead has another row of smaller shells inside the cowrie shells. A trio of the same small shells is inlaid into each cheek in a triangle shape. The back of the mask is the inside of the bare turtle shell, stained black with holes along the edge where the basketry is attached.