A new exhibit at San Francisco International (SFO) features more than 20 helmet masks that highlight the long-standing traditions of wood carving and masked performance among the Sande and Poro associations of Liberia, West Africa.
“Liberian Helmet Masks of the Sande and Poro Societies from the Collections of the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology” can be seen pre-security in the International Terminal Main Hall. The free exhibit runs through November.
The two societies can be found throughout Sierra Leone and Liberia, in parts of Guinea and the borders of the Ivory Coast in West Africa. Several different cultural groups belong to these associations. Poro is the society for men, responsible for initiating boys into manhood, while its counterpart, Sande, initiates girls into womanhood. Masquerades are an important part of the associations, and masked performers are included in initiation ceremonies and other important social occasions.
Men carve and wear most African masks, regardless of whether they represent males or females. The Sande society is the only known female group in Africa in which women wear masks, and masked performers are key in Sande ritual activities.
Images from the exhibition are available online at:
www.flysfo.com/web/page/about/news/pressres/exh-helmetmasks.html.
All objects on view are from the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley.
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