Small Carved Rainforest Birds/Diablo Mask

This particular mask features a direct reference to the venerable notion, among the Brunka, of shape-shifting. Hand carved and painted balsa wood. Featured in this clever diablo mask composition are a trogon and a toucan plus a forest panorama – all combined in a seamless flow.

The hybrid ‘eco-diablo’ mask type is a fusion, or hybrid, of the traditionally worn Boruca diablo mask, used in the annually celebrated Danza de los Diablitos, combined with compositional elements borrowed from their natural surroundings. This evolution and exploration of form slowly came about through an emphasis and play with design elements, seen in certain older diablo masks, of an ‘alter-ego’, or totem animal, featured on the forehead, and/or chin, of the mask.

• Tribe: Brunka (Boruca)
• Size: 5 1/2″ x 8″ tall (14 x 20.5 cm)
• Artist: Sergio González Rojas