Puppet head (merekun)

Among the many Bamana art forms is sogo bò, a puppet masquerade theater shared with the Bozo and other neighboring peoples. Organized by village youth associations, whose male and female members range from age fourteen to about thirty-five, the theater's aim is entertainment, allowing young men and women to explore the moral universe and gain knowledge through play, humor, satire, and wit. Sogo bò performances include small puppets on rods, whose handlers hide behind large textile enclosures when performing. This a merekun puppet, representing a female character, and may have been attached to a larger puppet figure. Puppets and masks used in such performances entered collections early on, but their context remained evasive, partly because they arrived as fragments. Artists make them to this day.