Description

Ornate repoussé covers the forehead and smooth cheeks of an adolescent girl, beautifully depicted in a sese wood mask. Perched on the head, a bird reaches a slender beak to caress the girls nose. Designed by Evelyn Kafui Ahianyo, it is namedi Onuma, /iAkan for “Bird.” A gift presented to Akan women in eastern Ghana during a girls puberty rites, it affirms the suitors commitment during courtship. “Apart from its decorative purposes, this piece gives the possessor an assurance of a blissful courtship leading to marriage,” the artisan affirms.