Uaiema" mask; Angola, mid-20th century.

Mask "Uaiema" of the Gangela culture; Angola, mid-twentieth century.
Wood, tree bark and braided and netted vegetable fibers.
Measurements: 20 cm (face height); 45 x 22 x 27 cm (total).
The presented mask follows the typical characteristics of the African masks used for the magic-religious rituals of the Gangela culture of Angola. Formally, the mask is composed of two parts: the face and the hairstyle. The face, oval in shape, is made of soft wood and presents great simplicity and schematism in its workmanship: the forehead is wide and convex; the nose -long, narrow and geometric- is crossed by a medial line painted in black that extends to the center of the forehead, where it becomes a trident, each of the lines culminating in a small black circular notch; the eyebrows are two black and curved strokes; the eyes are two cuts, almond-shaped, at the end of orbits only hinted at by a slight depression; below the right eye, starting at the nose, there are two horizontal rows, each with six small black circular notches; finally, the mouth is another cut similar in shape to the eyes, although a little longer and slightly off-center with respect to the nose.
For its part, the hairstyle begins, at its junction with the wooden face, with a strip formed by several braided strips of fiber cords and ending at the height and below the line of the eyes. From this fringe emerges a tree bark head covering and on top of it. In its center, a thick braid of vegetable fibers runs along its entire length and hangs down to the shoulders of the wearer. Two thick braids also emerge from the sides and join at the nape of the neck in a single braid, shorter than the central one, all crisscrossed by narrow braids.
Finally, the lower part of the mask is finished off, all around its perimeter, by a mesh of fine cords interwoven in large rings. This mask is used in initiation ceremonies. Due to its physical characteristics, it would be the representation of a sacred being with whom the character wearing the mask identifies himself during the ritual.
The Gangela are an ethnic complex of tribes or sub-groups composed of the Luena, the Luimbe, the Lutxace, the Mambunda and the Gangela themselves. A wedge of the Lunda-Kioko grouping, descending to Cubango, near the border, divides the Gangela into two groups: those of the west, in the Bié district, limited to the west by the Cunene and to the east by the Cuatir, tributary of the Cubango; and the eastern group that extends beyond the borders of Angola with the Congo (Zaure) and with Zambia, getting lost in the low south.
The Ganela are, traditionally, cattle breeders and farmers. They know the extraction of iron ore, which they forge for the manufacture of hunting and agricultural tools. Their art is, above all, remarkable in the making of masks that they use during the Mukanda initiation ceremonies. For the most part they represent spirits of the dead who, naturally, exercise control over the life of the group. The masks painted white, black and red are made of wood, tree bark or braided vegetable rope. Except for the masks in the shape of a cow's head, all the masks of human figuration are covered by a cap of feathers or vegetable fibers, some of them having a high decorated palette. The masks are covered with a mesh in vegetable fiber or a tree bark and rest on a wide collar of fiber mesh. The Gangela show in some of these works a clear Tshokwe influence.