Dan

The Dan live in the forested highlands where western Côte d’Ivoire meets Liberia. Their masks are among the most refined in West Africa: smooth, oval faces with a high forehead, narrow slit or round eyes and a deep, glossy patina built up by decades of handling and ritual libations. Each mask is a spirit made visible; its role — judge, entertainer, runner, guardian of the village — is defined by the mask’s form and the costume, not by a fixed rule.