Click on an image to see a page of images with prices, etc. The gallery continues its tenth season with a show of traditional masks, figures, shutters, doors and other objects from the Eket people, a subgroup of the Ibibio of Nigeria. Recognizable for their decorative patterns and repetition of shapes, Eket sculpture takes several forms.
Heads are round and mask-like, with carefully defined features and precise carving.
Most are headdresses, on top of a caplike base. Face masks, usually from the Ekpo society, are more varied in size and style. Eket figures, like the heads, are usually worn as crests of headdresses. They are danced in the annual Ogbom ceremony. Many of the figures have strongly abstracted concave bodies and were worn.