MASK & ABE

The London traffic was smiling on Abe, never had it conspired to help him but today another collector was delayed, stuck in a tailback. His dealer was killing time and had stopped by to see Abe. In the back of the dealer’s car was a towering Ekoi mask. In the 80s, Abe, his wife Sarah and baby daughter were visiting his mother in Ibadan, north east of Lagos. Sarah had bought a postcard of an Ekoi crest mask, this marked the beginning of Abe’s obsession. The masks, from Nigerias’s south eastern coast are carved from wood and covered in antelope skin. They are rested on the head, worn to celebrate the end of a period of seclusion and fattening in preparation for the marriage of young women. Abe locked the door of his shop, he cut the dealer a generous piece of Sarah’s carrot cake and the negotiations began. He cut a second piece of cake. Within the hour Abe had carefully unwrapped the mask, dusted it off and was re-attaching each of it’s tresses.

27 Nov 2011