DISCOVER the African Goddess of Fertility (Nimba)
The Nimba Mask
The nimba mask formed from the word D'mba or N'Demba is a mask of the Baga people originally from Lower Guinea . It is one of the best known among the masks of Guinea .
>History
Sculpted for the first time by the former Ansoumane of Binari, the mask represents the fertility goddess D'mba. Ansoumane presented the mask to his people (the Baga people) who welcomed him and adopted him as protector , it has thus become the symbol of its cultural identity .
>Culture and sculpture
Typically made of ebony wood , it represents a woman 's face. Carried on the shoulders, it thus solemnly participates in ceremonies, in particular weddings , initiation camps, harvests, funerals of notables and others, in different spaces and periods.
The nimba is today the best known and reproduced national heritage in Guinea. It is used, among others, as a logo by the Central Bank of the Republic of Guinea , the National Museum of Sandervalia , the decoration of the international airport of Conakry , it appears on the banknote of 5,000 Guinean francs and occupies, in the form of a statue, the roundabout near the People's Palace in Conakry .
>Symbol & Ideology
The dancer, wearing a full raffia costume, carries the mask on his shoulders, looking out through holes between the breasts. In use, such masks rise more than eight feet above the ground; they often weigh more than eighty pounds. Most show a standardized pattern of facial scarification.
The Baga Nimba, or D'mba, represents the abstraction of an ideal of the female role in society. The Nimba is essentially viewed as the vision of woman at her zenith of power, beauty, and affective presence; rather than a goddess or spirit. The typical Nimba form illustrates a woman that has been fertile, given birth to several children, and nurtured them to adulthood.
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