Mask (Sowei )

20th century

Femininity is given ominous force in Sowei masks. Women who are taught in a "university of the forest" wear them to illustrate their ideals. Precise hairstyles are a sign of orderly demeanor. Broad foreheads indicate the wearer has entered an expansive phase of life in which "the brow is the parlor by which you enter into a relationship with another person." Closed mouths signal that these women will not talk maliciously.

Wood, raffia, and metal

14 1/2 x 22 in. (36.83 x 55.88 cm)

Overall height: 30 in.

Mary Arrington Small Estate Acquisition Fund

89.68

Photo: Paul Macapia

Now on view at the Seattle Art Museum

Resources

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Art from Africa: Long Steps Never Broke a Back, Feb. 7 - May 19, 2002 (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Oct. 2, 2004 - Jan. 2, 2005; Hartford, Connecticut, Wadsworth Atheneum, Feb. 12 - June 19, 2005; Cincinnati, Ohio, Cincinnati Art Museum, Oct. 8, 2005 - Jan. 1, 2006; Nashville, Tennessee, Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Jan. 27 - Apr. 30, 2006 [as African Art, African Voices: Long Steps Never Broke a Back]). Text by Pamela McClusky. No cat. no., pp. 200-01, 206-7, reproduced pl. 85.

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Disguise: Masks and Global African Art, June 18 - Sept. 7, 2015 (Los Angeles, California, Fowler Museum at UCLA, Oct. 18, 2015 - Mar. 13, 2016; Brooklyn, New York, Brooklyn Museum, Apr. 29 - Sept. 18, 2016).

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Lessons from the Institute of Empathy, Mar. 31, 2018 - ongoing.

Seattle Art Museum respectfully acknowledges that we are on Indigenous land, the traditional territories of the Coast Salish people. We honor our ongoing connection to these communities past, present, and future.

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Mask (Sowei )

Mask (Sowei )

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