Egúngún Masquerade Dance Costume (paka egúngún)
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About this Brooklyn Icon
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Egúngún, meaning “masquerade” in Yorùbá, is celebrated across Yorùbáland in Nigeria, Benin, and Togo. Extensive research revealed that this paka masquerade costume was taken from the Lekewọgbẹ family shrine almost 70 years ago. Originally from Ògbómọ̀ṣọ́, Nigeria, the family now lives in Brooklyn, adding to the work's status as a Brooklyn Icon.
This paka, which was created in Ọyọ State, Nigeria, is embellished with hundreds of fabric panels of varying lengths, made of local indigo-dyed cotton. It also features fabrics imported from Asian and European markets, such as damasks, velvets, faux furs, and embroideries.
Such costumes are believed to possess supernatural powers that are concealed by the male dancers who wear them. The opulence and rarity of the fabrics that make up the masquerade represent wealth, access, and prestige. In motion, these costumes would swirl, sway, and dip with impressive speed, animating the panels and creating a hypnotic connection between the ancestral spirits and the world of the living. In this way, the costumes visually reference a verse from the literary corpus of Ifá, the Yorùbá religious and divinatory system: “Cloth only wears to shreds.” Just as cloth wears to shreds but never completely disappears, the living are transformed via death into a state of immortality.
Object Label
Swirling into motion, egúngún masquerade costumes appear during annual festivities to bless the community. Manifesting ancestral spirits, they serve as a bridge between the living and the otherworld. Paka egúngún, which escort more senior masks and perform whirling dances, are covered with fabric panels that create a dwelling place for ancestral spirits. Arranged and selected according to Yorùbá design sense (ojú-ọnà), this mask incorporates hundreds of African, Asian, and European fabrics. These include imported damasks, velvets, faux furs, and embroideries, as well as local indigo-dyed cottons.
Caption
Yorùbá. Egúngún Masquerade Dance Costume (paka egúngún), ca. 1920–1948. Cotton, wool, wood, silk, synthetic textiles (including viscose rayon and acetate), indigo, and aluminum, est.: 55 x 6 x 63 in. (139.7 x 15.2 x 160 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Sam Hilu, 1998.125. Creative Commons-BY
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Collection
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Culture
Title
Egúngún Masquerade Dance Costume (paka egúngún)
Date
ca. 1920–1948
Geography
Place made: Lekewọgbẹ compound, Ògbómọ̀ṣọ́, Ọ̀yọ́ State, Nigeria
Medium
Cotton, wool, wood, silk, synthetic textiles (including viscose rayon and acetate), indigo, and aluminum
Classification
Dimensions
est.: 55 x 6 x 63 in. (139.7 x 15.2 x 160 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of Sam Hilu
Accession Number
1998.125
Rights
Creative Commons-BY
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Frequent Art Questions
What is egungun?
Egungun is a Yoruba traditional masquerade danced once a year to call forth and pay respect to the ancestral dead, who reenter the community through these costumes.What I like most about egungun is how ornamental the fabric are, the example we have here really showcases cross cultural exchange. Some of the fabrics and dyes are produced locally, while others are traded.Why are women barred from this practice in Africa?Women are actually quite involved in masquerade, creating costumes, singing and dancing, as well as spectatorship. In general women simply do not wear wooden masks Africa is such a large continent with millions of people, so there are always exceptions! Women wear wooden masks in a few instances such as the Mende women in Sierra Leone who wear them in the Sande society.The role of women in masquerade traditions is being challenged and critiqued by numerous contemporary art, nearby works by Zina Saro-Wiwa and Wura-Natasha Ogunji and Saya Woolfalk all are investigating femininity in relationship to wooden masks.
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