Kuba leaders relied on masks to illustrate their alliance with the forces of nature. Here, an elephant's trunk is added to equate that creature's size, weight and stability with the ruler. Without eyeholes, the performer enacted a slow, dignified dance to personify Shyaam, the first human, bringer of civilization and founder of the Kuba dynastic line. It accompanied funeral ceremonies of great notables.
Raffia, skin, fabric, cowrie shells, beads
24 x 17 x 23in. (61 x 43.2 x 58.4cm)
Gift of the Christensen Fund
2001.44
Not currently on view
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.
