Inland Turubu Barak Mosquito Mask-New Guinea Art-Oceanic Art
Cape Turubu bulges out from New Guinea’s north coast southeast of Wewak going towards the mouth of the Sepik River. From the main village, called Turubu, going inland there are about a dozen other villages such as Namareb, Bunmgain and Mambe that make up Inland Turubu. This is the heartland of what was commonly known as “mosquito masks” and we now know are properly called “barak” or “barag”--the spirit name for masked entities up along this stretch of coast. In the early days of my field collecting one of my main men was from this very area and I visited each and every village numerous times searching for old masks. That was 20 years ago, and I was fairly fortunate over the years. Since then, these masks rarely come into my hands. Finding a true authentic barak carved from the correct wood, with the right pigments, right patina and piercings is now uncommon. This present one is fine and classic. Look at the close-up photo showing the eyes, nose, pierced nostrils, pigments, and encrusted patina—this is exactly how one should look. The mask dates to the 1920-40 era, is 19” (48.4 cm) in height.