Reginald Moore
September 16, 2015
Art Appreciation

The ‘Duho’ mask, which means hawk (or sometimes duha, meaning vulture) is a spiritual sculpture to encounter with spirits who materializes in animal form. In Bwa society, the identification and continued well-being of a family are often tied to a natural spirit. Upon consulting a priest, a family may commission a sculpture to embody that nature spirit. The masks appear at important funerals to honor the dead and escort their soul to the world beyond. The mask is the object of family pride and is an unofficial means of representing its prosperity and influence. This mask consists of many styles and paint mixtures. The wings of the primarily two-dimensional hawk mask are usually simply decorated with the paint. The face of the hawk has been reduced to basic geometric forms. A triangle defines the ‘face’ and contains a mouth and two sets of circles for eyes. The outwardly projecting beak and the hook at the top of the overall nature of this nature spirit representation. Bold geometric shapes repeated in brightly painted designs are often added to the surfaces of these relatively abstract forms. The hawk mask’s horizontal span extends about five feet wide; the wingspan of a related representation of the butterfly may be up to six or seven feet. The mask itself is a directional force because the length of the wings. It has gigantic circle going across the mask, which makes me look towards the beck and then the rest of the mask colors. The hawk’s mask also has concentric circles going across the entire mask; this means the circle sit within another circle. Also, upon the mask it represents a line going across the wing and on the rear end of the wings. The lines on the mask are going across dianglely into a pattern with different colors; as well as on the rear end. The creator uses three colors but it seems like their mixed to make that one color stand out. The outside circle is beige; inside circles are brown, with the black color background. The beck for the hawk itself is brown that may be mix with a little black. As I view the hawk’s mask, it shows a lot of mass. Practically, the entire mask is fully covered with designs. The wing that is on the mask is also pretty balance out from both sides and the pattern is very symmetrical. By viewing the hawk’s mask, the texture of the mask seems a little rough on some parts, but also smooth in other areas. Also, from the way the pattern is made upon the mask, there is repetition because the same exact design is being created.