Details

Facial tattoos are created with strips of blackened wax. The zigzags and chevrons that play over the surface of the face are larger in scale than actual facial tattoos and frequently augmented with additional lines, asterisks, and crescents.

Many masks feature elaborate and decorative hairlines, often rendered with human hair or animal fur. Among the Makonde, women work with clay, not wood, but the complex patterns and stylings found in the masks’ coiffures are consistent with designs incised in ceramic vessels.