Costumes & Garments

A masquerade at dusk, drums going, and a figure that is not quite a man. African costumes and garments were made for dance, masquerade, hunting and rank. Yoruba Egungun costumes are layered panels that whirl around the dancer to embody returning ancestors; Yoruba ibeji jackets of beads and cloth dressed twin figures. Then come Igbo Agbogho Mmuo maiden spirit costumes, Hausa robes embroidered with the two-knives motif, ndop-cloth agbada from the Cameroon Grassfields, Kaka dance tunics covered in porcupine quills to protect the dancer, and Bambara hunter’s jackets hung with amulets and leather pouches. Fulani and Berber caftans and Kuba tunics run from the Sahel to Morocco and the Congo.

Worn cotton, leather, cowrie shells and rattan give them sculptural presence. On a stand, a hunter’s jacket becomes a figure. Flat against limewash, a robe becomes a painting. Both outrank the sofa.