Mask c. 20th century

This mask was made by the Bamum people, and I can see their hands in the wood. The marks feel intuitively placed, not like geometry, but with a wonky kind of symmetry. I'm really drawn to the way the light catches on the mask's surface, especially how it defines the carved details around the eyes and mouth. The texture looks polished, almost slippery, but you can still see the tool marks, like ghosts of the artist's process. It's like the mask is both concealing and revealing its own making, a dance of opacity and transparency, kind of like art itself! Think about Picasso, how he borrowed from African masks, abstracting and reinterpreting them. This mask isn't just an object, it's a conversation across cultures and time, constantly shifting in meaning with each new encounter. It's not about getting it "right," but about staying open to the possibilities.