Bird mask (E087527)

Lower Sepik, East Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea. Wood - In the Sepik area, ancestors could take the form of a human face, bird, insect, crocodile or other animal. This mask probably represents one of these ancestor spirits. Many of the Sepik masks collected and available today were made to meet the export demand for the region's art. While not wholly traditional, these masks are still significant to the Sepik art story.