Dallas Museum of Art presents "Not Visible to the Naked Eye: Inside a Senufo Helmet Mask" opening day

eventdetail
Photo courtesy of Dallas Museum of Art

The DMA’s Conservation and Arts of Africa departments, in collaboration with UT Southwestern Medical Center, will present CT scans of a Senufo helmet mask from the Museum’s African art collection. This kind of mask is worn like a helmet by a medium at initiations, funerals, harvest celebrations, and secret events conducted by the powerful male-only Komo society, which has traditionally maintained social and spiritual harmony in Senufo villages in Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, and Burkina Faso.

Visible attachments on the mask include a female figure, cowrie shells, and imported glassware. The CT scans reveal unexpected materials beneath the surface and objects contained in the attached animal horns that empower the mask. Dr. Matthew A. Lewis and Dr. Todd Soesbe, faculty members of the Department of Radiology at the Medical School of The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, assisted with this exhibition.

The exhibition will be on display through January 2021.

The DMA’s Conservation and Arts of Africa departments, in collaboration with UT Southwestern Medical Center, will present CT scans of a Senufo helmet mask from the Museum’s African art collection. This kind of mask is worn like a helmet by a medium at initiations, funerals, harvest celebrations, and secret events conducted by the powerful male-only Komo society, which has traditionally maintained social and spiritual harmony in Senufo villages in Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, and Burkina Faso.

Visible attachments on the mask include a female figure, cowrie shells, and imported glassware. The CT scans reveal unexpected materials beneath the surface and objects contained in the attached animal horns that empower the mask. Dr. Matthew A. Lewis and Dr. Todd Soesbe, faculty members of the Department of Radiology at the Medical School of The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, assisted with this exhibition.

The exhibition will be on display through January 2021.

The DMA’s Conservation and Arts of Africa departments, in collaboration with UT Southwestern Medical Center, will present CT scans of a Senufo helmet mask from the Museum’s African art collection. This kind of mask is worn like a helmet by a medium at initiations, funerals, harvest celebrations, and secret events conducted by the powerful male-only Komo society, which has traditionally maintained social and spiritual harmony in Senufo villages in Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, and Burkina Faso.

Visible attachments on the mask include a female figure, cowrie shells, and imported glassware. The CT scans reveal unexpected materials beneath the surface and objects contained in the attached animal horns that empower the mask. Dr. Matthew A. Lewis and Dr. Todd Soesbe, faculty members of the Department of Radiology at the Medical School of The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, assisted with this exhibition.

The exhibition will be on display through January 2021.

WHEN

WHERE

Dallas Museum of Art
1717 N. Harwood St.
Dallas, TX 75201
https://www.dma.org/senufomask

TICKET INFO

Admission is free.
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