Astounded

This fascinating mask is crafted by the artisans of the Kamsá Biyá Community, an indigenous people living in the Sibundoy Valley in the southern Colombian Andes. In keeping with their cultural and spiritual traditions, they use such masks in ceremonies where they ingest a native plant with medicinal and psychoactive properties called ayahuasca. Artisans carve the mask by hand from basket willow wood, covering one side with tiny black, gold and silver glass beads in elaborate patterns.