Traditional African Art (African Art post 4/10)

Traditional art are the most popular that describes the studied forms of the typical African art.
Generally, wooden masks were made which symbolise human or animal and sometimes even creatures that are mythical which were commonly found in West Africa. These mask’s originality were used in ceremonies such as celebrations, wars and harvesting crops where they used to be worn by a dancer which used to be chosen or entitled to.

  

During the ceremonies  dancers used to go in deep trance where he/she will communicate with ancestors during the state of mind. These masks used to be multi position worn, where these people used to wear them as helmets (covering the head), as a crest or even resting with the head. African masks used to represent spirits, where they believes that the one who wears the mask is possessed by the ancestor’s soul.

 

They're generally are made out of wood, and usually decorated by ivory, plant’s fibre, pigments, animal’s hair and stones, whereas sometimes even semi-precious stones were attached.

They even used to produce statues, generally made out of ivory and decorated with metal, nails and even shells. As part of their culture, they also had decorative clothing which is another big part of African art in their culture.
Just like different cultures, in Ghana they have the strip woven Kente cloth which is colourful African textile, and another technique is the boldly patterned mudcloth.

Traditional Clothing

  

Kente Cloth                                         Mud Cloth

African art - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 2013. African art - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. [ONLINE] Available at:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_art#Traditional_art.