This carved wooden mask made by an unidentified artist in what’s now Gabon depicts an idealized woman. Its face is covered in red pigment and kaolin, a white clay found in southern Gabon that is associated with healing.

This mask was used in a fundamentally collaborative and communal activity termed mukudj that dates back to at least the early 1800s. Performed on stilts, mukudj is characterized by feats of acrobatic athleticism, the most incredible being tasdu, the Ipunu-language term for a unique contortion in which the performer executes a backbend while being raised into the air by his entourage.

Mukudj performances have maintained their vibrancy and relevance for contemporary audiences by responding to socioeconomic conditions. Between 1890 and 1913, the masquerade’s function shifted from ceremonial to entertainment as a result of the French colonial rubber trade, which forcibly changed the Indigenous economy and degraded the region’s rainforest.