Igbo Okoroshi Ojo Mask

A hand-carved wooden mask in the Okoroshi Ojo style, with a blocky nose, small eyes and a slender mouth showing bared teeth. Cupped ears frame the brown-painted face, a slender vertical bar runs the height of the forehead, and lobed braids of hair hang on either side. Okoroshi Ojo masks are the non-white-faced type, representing malevolent male water spirits; they are worn during the six-month rainy season and stand for the destructive tendencies of both the rains and society.