Water Spirit Headdress

Artist Kalabari Ijo artist

Dateearly 20th century

MediumWood and pigment

Dimensionsheight, width, and depth: 15 1/2 × 4 × 5 in. (39.4 × 10.2 × 12.7 cm)

ClassificationsSculpture

Credit LineGift of Rhonda Morgan Wilkerson, PhD

Object number2024.22.29

On View

On view

Label TextKalabari Ijo peoples reside in some thirty towns and villages in the Niger River Delta. Each has its respective Ekine society, an association responsible for the masquerades that honor and represent owu, or Water People.

Ijo aquatic arts are prolific, and each of the numerous water spirits represented in masquerades has its own dedicated festival, performed periodically in a cycle to honor the dead and other important or heroic persons. Such performances are enacted by the Ekine society, named after the hero-goddess who was shown the secrets of dancing by the Water People themselves.
ProvenanceCreated in Nigeria, early 20th century. Charles Davis, Louisiana, Lew Deadmore, Georgia, [Charles Jones African Art, Wilmington, NC], Rhonda Morgan Wilkerson, Morrisville, NC; given to NCMA, 2024.Exhibition HistoryRaleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "The People's Collection, Reimagined," October 7, 2022–present. Object Rights Statement

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