Guinea · Mask / Carnival / Performance Costume Craft
Nimba (also D'mba, Yamban)
The carving of Nimba, a monumental wooden shoulder mask representing the largest mask form documented in West Africa, produced by the Baga people (and their neighbors the Nalu) of coastal Guinea and Guinea-Bissau, centered on the Boké and Boffa areas. Carved from dark wood into an abstracted female form with an elongated hooked nose, small facial features, and pendulous, exaggerated breasts specifically symbolizing fertility and 'mother earth,' the completed mask can stand at least eight feet tall and weigh eighty pounds or more, worn on the shoulders of a male dancer secured by rope tied to his torso and concealed beneath a full raffia and cloth covering, with sight holes carved strategically into the torso beneath the breasts to allow the wearer to see. Governed by the Baga's Simo secret society (with the related A-Tekan society also documented as significant to Baga spiritual and artistic life), the mask is carried through rice paddies and invoked by infertile women seeking the blessing of Nimba, goddess of increase and fecundity, and performed at births, marriages, and rice harvest festivals. The Baga also carved a distinct, related object called Bansonyi, a painted wooden pole up to 20 feet long encoding Simo society lineage symbolism.
Risk level: Endangered · Not independently inscribed
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