African Fine Arts - AFRICAN-ART

Numerous Senufo masks are kept by the Poro society, a society based on age grades that exerts social and political control, conveys traditional knowledge and fulfills religious functions, especially during elaborate funeral ceremonies. The anthropomorphic kpeli-yehe masks serve to compel the spirit of the deceased to leave the house. The masks have great aesthetic appeal, the idealized female face marked by scarification on either side of a slender nose and on the forehead, a protruding mouth with prominent teeth.