Macua Woman. Northern Moçambique. 51cm x 40cm - Oil on Canvas.
In the northern coastal region and islands of Moçambique, it's common to come across women with faces covered with a white mask, called mussiro or n’siro. The mask is made from the wood of a tree ground down and made into a paste. The purpose of the mask appears to have changed over time. Today it tends to be considered more as a means of beautifying the skin, but according to oral accounts, mussiro masks used to carry other subtle messages related to the civil status of women.
