Epa Mask: Oloko (Lord-of-the-Farm)
Performers wearing massive headdresses emerge each year in northeastern Yorubaland. The masks share the ikoko head at the bottom to convey "the great ones of the family who are now dead." Animals and people are seen at the top of the mask, high above the townspeople, who join in and recite salutations, praise names, and songs.
During the performance, Oloko runs in from the forest to salute the elders, who watch him carefully. Wearing the massive mask, he approaches a mound of earth called "a tiny bit of the world," and attempts to jump over it. If successful, he proves that the young men have the strength to shoulder the responsibility of the year ahead.
Wood, pigment, and mirror
39 x 15 9/16 x 20 11/16 in. (99 x 39.5 x 52.5 cm)
Gift of Katherine White and the Boeing Company
81.17.580
Provenance: [Tribal Arts, London, England]; purchased from gallery by Katherine White (1929-1980), Seattle, Washington, 1972; bequeathed to Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, 1981