Masques Salampasu : Visage D'ancêtres Guerriers

The Salampasu people live in the province of Kasai Oriental in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Throughout their history, they have resisted domination by the neighbouring Luba, Chokwe and Lunda peoples, before finally having to accept the domination of the Belgian colonial authorities.

The Salampasu people have no central government. Each village community has its own warrior society, which protects it from hostilities and also organises masked shows, during which the elderly warriors, who own and guard the masks, grant permission to young men to put them on and dance.

Salampasu masks have a highly recognisable formal structure, but there are great variations in the way the faces are painted or covered in metal, to give them a dramatic, even aggressive expression that seems to resurrect the warrior ancestors.

The Lanfranchi collection comprises some fifty masks, each of which is described and analysed in this book, showing the similarities and differences between them. The book also attempts hypothetical attributions to particular sculptors or workshops.