Three masked performers, one wearing male horizontal Chi wara headdress, the other two wearing double-headed horizontal Chi wara headdresses, each referred to as n'gonzon koun, Bamako (national district), Mali

Object Details

Local Numbers: EENG-III-6, 13A.
General: Title source: Index card based on photographer's notes.
Local Note: Typed index card reads, "E 1 Bmb. Bambara. Mali, near Bamako. Dancers with Chi wara antelope headdresses. 7/1970. EE. neg.no. III-6, 13A." The card was written in 1977-79 by Archives staff using source provided by photographer.

Topic: Rites and ceremonies -- Africa; Masquerades; Masks; Headdresses -- headgear -- Africa; Animals in art -- Aardvark; Animals in art -- antelopes; Animals in art -- Composite animals; Animals in art; Wood-carving; Dance; Cultural landscapes

See more items in: Eliot Elisofon Field collection; Eliot Elisofon Field collection / Mali

Archival Repository: Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives, National Museum of African Art

Type: Archival materials; Negatives (photographic); Black-and-white negatives; Negatives

Collection Citation: Eliot Elisofon Field Collection, EEPA 1973-001, Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution

Collection Rights: Permission to reproduce images from the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives must be obtained in advance. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.

Scope and Contents: "The especially complex, tiered horizontal headdress is exceptional for its expression of pentup corporeal power. It gives compelling evidence that horizontal headdress were not modeled on a single animal found in nature but rather represent an abstract force expressed through an amalgam of zoomorphic features. Here the animal in the lower half, which appears to be an aardvark, is more fully realized than in others because of the inclusion of its head. It is possible this work was commissioned by a voluntary communal labor association known as gonzon. Gonzon owned headdresses called n'gonzon koun, or 'anteater head,' which were sculpturally identical to those used by the ci wara association of the same community. They were not danced in the field, however, as were ci wara headdresses, but rather in the village on occasions when the gonzon performed charitable farmwork." [La Gamma A., 2002: Genesis: Ideas of Origin in African Sculpture. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Yale University Press, New Haven and London]. This photograph was taken when Eliot Elisofon traveled to Africa from March 17, 1970 to July 17, 1970.

Collection Restrictions: Use of original records requires an appointment. Contact Archives staff for more details.