Wara bilen kun mask

"Wara bilen kun", or "Head of the red monkey", a mask in polychrome wood, depicting a baboon or a monkey, used in a type of Mali's theatrical expression, of pre-colonial origins, in which masks and puppets coexist in the same play ("tulon"). Strongly promoted after the independence of Mali in 1960, as an integral part of its cultural heritage, and being valued at the scale of each community as a means of spreading its moral values, in recent years this type of theater has nevertheless been threatened and persecuted by the growing Islamic fundamentalism in the country.