In the realm of African art, masks are some of the most exemplary and iconic artworks. Whether displayed to be admired for their shape, form, and volumes, or presented in dialogue with ethnographic information and contextual images, masks are omnipresent in collections and displays of African art. As aesthetic and ethnographic objects, masks are used as gateways to the understanding and appreciation of “cultural styles” as well as the formal and creative solutions adopted by artists and workshops. Yet the appeal of masks also relies on their perceived irreducible difference and mysterious spiritual aura. Even when isolated and stripped of their fiber costumes and attachments, there is always a reference to the body of an absent wearer, thus evoking a situated and embodied history of production, performance, and social meaning that often does not accompany the mask into the museum. Yet even when isolated and stripped of their embodied meaning,...

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