Photographic Print

Black and white photographic print showing a ndoli jowei, or dancing sowei. The masked dancer wears a helmet mask, trousers and a dyed black raffia cape. The mask type resembles masks of an early date, identified as Gola. The photograph was taken by Alldridge in 1899 and was published as Figure 47 in T. J. Alldridge, 1901, The Sherbro and Its Hinterland (London: Macmillan). Alldridge writes of the Bundu devil: Her distinctive costume is unvarying, all Bundu devils being similarly attired, except as regards their head-piece, which admits of some slight variation. No part of the body may be visible, consequently the cloth casings of the arms and legs are sewn up at the extremities, and in each covered hand the devil carries a little bunch of twigs... Her dress is of a long shaggy fibre, dyed black, and over her head she wears a grotesque wooden mask (p.141).

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Further Information

  • Type: Photographs
  • Object: Photographic Print
  • Materials: Paper
  • Culture Group: Mende
  • Dimensions: 156mm [L] x 108mm [W]
  • Production Date: 1880-1900
  • Associated Places: Unknown
  • Associated People: Thomas Joshua Alldridge (Photographer)
  • Museum: British Museum
  • Accession Number: BM:Af.B76.36

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