Among the Chokwe of Angola and Congo, masks personify akishi (makishi), or ancestral spirits and other forces of nature. Akishi take many forms and are known by distinct names. Bastin discusses this ...

Click to open image viewer. This mask represents a beautiful young woman adorned with tattoos, earrings, now missing, and an elaborate coiffure. The original Chokwe name (pwo) referred to an adult ...

In this series, Lagniappe presents a different work each week from the collection of the New Orleans Museum of Art, with commentary from a curator. Characterized by slit eyes, which appear as convex ...