african art

Ngil Mask

Very little is known about the purpose of the Fang ngil mask. The secret society that made this mask was banned in 1910 by French colonial rule, and knowledge about the mask was lost as a result. Its last known function was to cleanse the community of sorcery and other forms of evil.

One meaning of the word ngil is “gorilla,” and the arched eyebrows and broad, rounded forehead may be meant to model the prominent brow of the gorilla. The white color represents purity and the power of regeneration associated with ancestral forces.

American Indian Art