Butterfly Plank Mask
Butterfly Plank Mask, wood and polychrome paint, 35.5cm, Musee d'Arts Africains,
Oceaniens, Amerindiens, Marseille (photograph provided by Spirits Speak)
Shaped like a wedge and painted in polychrome paint, the Butterfly Plank mask created by the Bwa people of Burkina Faso. [1] This mask has a distinctive painted pattern of with dark triangles placed within light colored circles. This pattern has a meaning to the initiates of this mask and discloses its meaning over time with their familiarity and experience of the mask.[1] The geometric shapes are what make this mask unique and different from others.[1] Like many other masks, it is also carved from wood as well.[1]
These abstractly painted masks are closely associated with nature, and embody the nature spirits.[1] They are owned by extended families and become a symbol for fresh new life and the emergence of nature back from its dry period.[1] Even though this mask has other purposes it is mainly danced on market days for entertainment purposes they also appear at ceremonies and funerals.[1] The Butterfly plank mask's function is to protect the family who owns it.[1] These masks still today have a presence in many of the Bwa people’s ritual, social and political life.[1]
1. Peter Stepan, Spirits Speak a Celebration of African Masks, (Munich, Berlin, London, New York: Prestel, 2005), 164-166.