Toma Landai Initiation Mask

T he Toma live in the rain forest, northwest of Liberia, western Sierra Leone, and eastern Guinea. The PORO association articulates their society socially, politically and religiously.
The landai masks are the main element of the young boys’ initiation which takes place in the depth of the rain forest.
Those masks , according to their size, are to be worn by the initiators, or, when smaller, worn horizontally.
Their rough features are part of the peculiar style, when the sculpture has to remain close to the wooden matter, as if the carving had been done by the forest’s spirits.