Moving Masks

Masks and time are bound in a relationship of reminders. Mask use is heavily dependent on seasonal changes, due to its prevalence in agricultural areas. After each annual harvest, during the dry season, the mask period begins. The space between harvest and planting allows people to take care of other business and get ready for another growing season. (Roy “The Art of Burkina Faso” 4) During this agricultural respite, the annual process of mask-renewal and use happens.

Almost immediately after harvests are brought in, wooden masks are submerged, as to begin a procedural renewal. Ceiba wood, the soft, lightweight material for these kinds of masks, is susceptible to bugs. In order to keep the bugs from eating the entire mask over years of use, Voltaic people exterminate the pests by soaking the masks in rivers. (Roy “The Art of Burkina Faso” 4) After a sufficient amount of time has been taken to drown all the bugs, the masks reemerge. However before they are used, they must be repainted. The most common and inexpensive paints used for these masks are water soluble. Therefore each year, when removed from the water, they are nearly devoid of the typical red, white and black paint. (Roy “The Art of Burkina Faso” 4) The motion of placing and removing the masks from water and then repainting them, creates an annual memory. Right before the growing season begins again, masks are used in sacrificial ceremonies. (Roy “The Art of Burkina Faso” 16) Both procedures—at the beginning and end of each mask period—are reminders of time.