Mwana Pwo mask

How it began

Mwana Pwo, 'young woman', is a mask character of the Chokwe and related peoples of Angola and the neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zambia. Chokwe society is matrilineal, and the mask honors the founding female ancestor of the lineage as well as young women who have come through initiation and childbirth. Scholars differ on the exact reading: some take Pwo as an ancestor, others as a woman who has already borne children.

The age of the tradition is not documented. The Chokwe were little recorded by Europeans before the early 20th century, and most masks in museums date from the 19th or early 20th century.

How it works

The mask is carved from wood by a male professional sculptor, the songi, who may model it on a woman whose beauty he admires. Typical features are sunken, concave eye sockets, large half-closed eyes, a slender nose, carved marks that stand for scarification or tattoos, filed teeth, and a braided fiber coiffure. The surface is often a deep red, with white kaolin around the eyes.

It is always danced by a man, who wears a tight knitted body suit, wooden breasts and a skirt. Mwana Pwo appears during the mukanda initiation of boys, moving with slow, graceful steps before an audience of women, and is meant to entertain them and honor the boys' mothers. Women may chase off a dancer who performs badly.

Where it stands today

Mwana Pwo is among the best known Central African art forms. Examples are held by the Detroit Institute of Arts, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, the Minneapolis Institute of Art and other museums. The image is used as a national symbol too: a Mwana Pwo mask appears on the 50 franc banknote of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Art historians point out that a mask in a display case is only part of the work, since in use it is one element of a costume, a dance and an exchange with the audience.