4 reactions
tThe Museum of Stolen History: Kakuunga
If its puffed cheeks, exaggerated chin, and pouted lips provoke instant fear in the observer, then the Kakuungu mask is doing exactly what it is meant to do.
The rare artefact, made of wood, raffia, and tortoise shell, was one of hundreds of items bought by ethnographist Albert Maesen for only a few dollars on behalf of Belgium’s Royal Museum of Central Africa. The mask is 1.5m all and weighs about 10kg. There are about nine other such masks – and none remains in the Democratic Republic of Congo. This reflects just how intensely that country’s heritage has been looted and hoarded.
#local
If its puffed cheeks, exaggerated chin, and pouted lips provoke instant fear in the observer, then the Kakuungu mask is doing exactly what it is meant to do.
The rare artefact, made of wood, raffia, and tortoise shell, was one of hundreds of items bought by ethnographist Albert Maesen for only a few dollars on behalf of Belgium’s Royal Museum of Central Africa. The mask is 1.5m all and weighs about 10kg. There are about nine other such masks – and none remains in the Democratic Republic of Congo. This reflects just how intensely that country’s heritage has been looted and hoarded.
#local
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| 11,000 mlx | |
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