Abelam Baba mask
This is a very old helmet mask,called a baba , which represents a spirit beings from the other world, piglike creatures , which symbolize the power of the power of male Abelam society. The baba is associated most closely with the tambaran cult and hence with male initiation ceremonies. Men don the baba mask which is freshly painted for the ceremony, decorated with with bright orange fruit around the neck and can have along flowing skirt of sago fibre . They carry a spear, bone knife or club.
Essentially they clear the ceremonial area of evil spirits and also appear during the penis cutting initiation grade of the young boys. The mask men have a comic side sauntering around rushing to frighten the women ( who play along ) and the children ( who are terrified ) but there is also a sinister side involving ritual murder. The baba disguise allows for capricious or premeditated killing, which goes unpunished as the baba is responsible . This aspect of the baba finished with the arrival of the Australian colonial administration.
These masks are made in the lower inland foothills of the Prince Alexander Mountains and down into the plains on the north side of the Middle Sepik River in the . East Sepik Province ( often refered to as Maprik or Wosera or Abelam art )
This is an old mask circa 1950’s, is a beautiful early genuine piece with thick layers of paint work and signs of use and patina
$1300 AUD
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