PORTO NOVO, Benin (AP) — A traditional mask festival in Porto Novo, Benin, showcases the country’s unique face masks and full-body costumes, that are tied to ancient customs and traditions.

From initiation rites to harvest festivals, many traditional African rituals require participants to don masks and elaborate costumes that transform their wearers into spirits, beasts, or ancestral ...

At the beginning of the 20th century, the traditional masks of sub-Saharan Africa motivated artists such as Picasso and Matisse to remake the human form. A century later, these masks have become a ...

*From masks worn to prevent the spread of Covid-19 to Hong Kong protesters wearing Guy Fawkes masks during anti-China protests, 2020 is a time of masks. Yet in much of Africa, such face coverings ...

PORTO NOVO, Benin (AP) — A traditional mask festival in Porto Novo, Benin, showcases the country’s unique face masks and full-body costumes, that are tied to ancient customs and traditions. This CT ...

“We placed more than 30 masks for this ASEAN summit exhibition, and there are 25 characters in the Lakhon Khol theater story and you can see them here. My intention for this exhibition is not to sell ...