Mwana Pwo Mask

Origin: Chokwe Tribe, Angola/D.R. Congo
Composition: wood, pigment stain

This mask, known as pwo, represents the ideal of womanhood and female beauty, and is used to bestow fertility. She is the counterpart to another famous Chokwe mask, known as Chihongo, which brings prosperity. As an ancestor, pwo is envisioned as an elderly woman, but recently, pwo has become known as mwana pwo, a young woman. She is danced as part of a costume that usually includes a raffia hairstyle and wooden breasts, and she is danced in ways that imitate the graceful movements of a woman (Visona, "A History of Art In Africa").