Punu Mask - Maiden Spirit Mukudji

by Serge Averbukh

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Price

$3,500

Dimensions

48.000 x 48.000 inches

Title

Punu Mask - Maiden Spirit Mukudji

Artist

Serge Averbukh

Medium

Digital Art - Digital Painting

Description

Introducing 'Treasures of Africa' Collection by Serge Averbukh, showcasing convergent media paintings of various historical as well as modern ethnic arts pieces belonging to indigenous peoples and tribes from all around the African continent. Here you will find framed and wrapped/stretched canvas fine art prints, featuring Punu Mask - Maiden Spirit Mukudji.

The Punu, or Bapunu (Bapounou), are a Bantu group of Central Africa and one of the four major peoples of Gabon, inhabiting interior mountain and grassland areas in the southwest of the country, around the upper N'Gouni� and Nyanga Rivers. Bapunu also live in the Divenie, Kibangou, and Mossendjo districts of the Republic of the Congo. They are linguistically related to the Eshira. Punu traditions record a migration from the south sometime before the 19th century, as a result of wars somewhere between the Congo and Niari River. In the 19th century they gathered rubber, and participated in the slave trade, sending both their own and acquisitions from further inland to Loango and Fernan Vaz. In the present day, the Punu are noted for their cloth made of palm fiber, and for iron weaponry. The Punu were once called Bayaka by others, but they themselves consider this a pejorative.
This deity was described by Punu, Lumbo and various other ethnic groups in Gabon. White face Spirit Maiden represents female guardian spirit in the initiation of young girls, funerary rites, ancestor cults, and also in dances of the full moon. The refined features and elaborate coiffure of the Puno masks mirror the appearance of tribal women. Social cohesion is ensured by the Mukudji society, whose primary role is to subjugate harmful forest spirits. The white pigment on masks alludes to the anti-witchcraft powers of this group. The Puno make only masks of women, with elaborate hairstyles, features which appear somewhat Asian, and white kaolin pigments. They are worn by Mukudji initiates, who are often on stilts. They are thought to represent ancestor's faces.

Uploaded

September 28th, 2014

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