Carved wooden headdress for Yinka Shonibare CBE RA, Frieze Los Angeles, 2023

In 2022, I was commissioned to carve a large Baga/ Nalu style Banda horizontal headdress for artist Yinka Shonibare CBE RA. Due to the size of the headdress, I organised a small team of skilled carvers to work on this mask together.

This mask featured as part of Yinka's art works with James Cohan Gallery at Frieze Los Angeles in February 2023.

With only a photograph as a reference, this mask is first modelled in clay before hand carving in laminated sheets of Quebec pine.

Baga/ Nalu style Banda headdress/ Kumbaruba I)