Ijo (Africa Dances)

Ijo is part of the Africa Dances, a series of paintings done by the icon, Ben Enwonwu between the 1940's and 1960's in his quest to explore and demonstrate his own views on the state of modern Nigerian culture at the time, using symbolic imagery in scenes of dance, and ritual performance from his Onitsha-Igbo heritage and other cultures in the country as well. The painting shows the dance performance of an Ijo Masquerade of the Ijaw people of the Niger River, southern Nigeria.