Masks

"The power of a statue or mask was believed to be more real than that of a living being."
(Segy)
African masks, like the masks of tribal societies everywhere, acted as "interfaces" or intermediaries, connecting between the world of humans and the world of spirits. Masks, and the spirits they embodied, served many tribal communities. In Africa, different masks were created by different tribes and cultures and used for a wide range of purposes; at rites of initiation, as entry permits or "passports" into secret societies, indicative or grades, achievements and status, or they could be used to take on the role and personality of a healer, tax-collector, policeman, exorcist, joker, news-giver or for empowering any needed function. A person known to the village or tribe could become an entirely different entity once a mask was put on and "danced". They were used ritually, ceremonially, socially and magically and in a wide range of functions, which went far beyond the realm of humans. Referring to his visit to the Trocadero Museum, Picasso explained to Francoise Gilot:
"Men had made those masks and other objects for a sacred purpose, a magic purpose, as a kind of mediation between themselves and the unknown hostile forces that surround them, in order to overcome their fear and horror by giving it a form and image. At that moment I realized what painting was all about. Painting isn't an aesthetic operation; it's a form of magic designed to be a mediator between this strange, hostile world and us, a way of seizing the power by giving form to our terrors as well as our desires. When I came to that realization, I knew I had found my way."