IMG_9232.jpg
IMG_9234.jpg
IMG_9232.jpg
IMG_9234.jpg

ODUM NWANYI | Mask-We

$300.00

MASK-WE | Handcrafted Ceremonial Mask One of a Kind | Enugu, Nigeria | 2025

$250

Every mask holds a world within it.

This piece was hand-carved and painted by a participant of Slang Global's MASK-WE Project — a women's empowerment program based in Enugu, Nigeria, where art, culture, and economic opportunity converge. No two masks are alike. The artist who made yours chose every color, every symbol, every stroke with intention.

The MASK-WE masks are rooted in a powerful cultural dialogue between West Africa and Latin America. Each mask is painted in the vibrant, living tradition of the Mexican alebrije — bold reds, yellows, blues, greens, and blacks that pulse with energy and life. Woven into that color are ancient Igbo symbols: Nsibidi and Uli markings that have carried the stories of Nigerian womanhood for generations. Together, they form something entirely new — and entirely true.

The woman who made this mask sat in a workshop in southeastern Nigeria and painted her story into the wood. Her triumphs. Her fears. Her identity. Her voice. The mask you're holding is not a decorative object — it is a document of a life, rendered in color and symbol.

Proceeds from each sale go directly back to the MASK-WE participants to fund their business plans and long-term economic independence.

What you're bringing home: A hand-carved, hand-painted wooden mask. Original Nsibidi and Uli symbolic markings. Alebrije-inspired color palette. A certificate of origin and artist information. A piece of an ongoing cultural exchange between Nigeria and the world.

Made in Enugu, Nigeria. Presented by Slang Global — connecting West Africa and Latin America through culture, art, and shared humanity.

Frequency:

MASK-WE | Handcrafted Ceremonial Mask One of a Kind | Enugu, Nigeria | 2025

$250

Every mask holds a world within it.

This piece was hand-carved and painted by a participant of Slang Global's MASK-WE Project — a women's empowerment program based in Enugu, Nigeria, where art, culture, and economic opportunity converge. No two masks are alike. The artist who made yours chose every color, every symbol, every stroke with intention.

The MASK-WE masks are rooted in a powerful cultural dialogue between West Africa and Latin America. Each mask is painted in the vibrant, living tradition of the Mexican alebrije — bold reds, yellows, blues, greens, and blacks that pulse with energy and life. Woven into that color are ancient Igbo symbols: Nsibidi and Uli markings that have carried the stories of Nigerian womanhood for generations. Together, they form something entirely new — and entirely true.

The woman who made this mask sat in a workshop in southeastern Nigeria and painted her story into the wood. Her triumphs. Her fears. Her identity. Her voice. The mask you're holding is not a decorative object — it is a document of a life, rendered in color and symbol.

Proceeds from each sale go directly back to the MASK-WE participants to fund their business plans and long-term economic independence.

What you're bringing home: A hand-carved, hand-painted wooden mask. Original Nsibidi and Uli symbolic markings. Alebrije-inspired color palette. A certificate of origin and artist information. A piece of an ongoing cultural exchange between Nigeria and the world.

Made in Enugu, Nigeria. Presented by Slang Global — connecting West Africa and Latin America through culture, art, and shared humanity.

ODUM NWANYI Handcrafted Mask by Martha Nneka Nnebedum Isialangwa, Abia State, Nigeria | MASK-WE Project, Enugu 2025 $250

Odum — lion, in Igbo. Nwanyi — woman, in Igbo. Odum Nwanyi. The Lioness.

She was built to build things.

At twenty-six, Martha Nneka Nnebedum was already one of the youngest female building technologists working on a government housing project in Nigeria. Her mind was precise. Her drafts were clean. Her dreams were tall — as tall as the structures she designed. Lecturers pointed to her with pride. She was the star of her class, and she carried that light quietly, purposefully, like someone who had always known exactly where she was going.

She was also in love.

Emmy had been her anchor since university. Theirs was a love that didn't need loud declarations — steady, sure, and built on the same foundation as everything else Martha touched. When she found out she was pregnant, she did not feel fear. She felt joy. A wedding was in sight. The future was already taking shape.

Until one visit shattered it all.

"My son cannot marry someone from that kind of background." Emmy's mother stood before her, lips tight as folded cloth. "You've masked your origin well, but blood does not lie." "Do you know what they say about the Ngwa people? That they eat people. That their women are cursed."

The words were meant to diminish her. To reduce a woman of precision, ambition, and grace into a rumor. Into a stereotype passed down like an inheritance of fear. Martha — the star, the builder, the woman who designed structures meant to stand for decades — was being told that who she was, where she came from, the soil that made her, was something to be ashamed of.

She was not ashamed.

Odum Nwanyi is what rises when a woman refuses to disappear. This mask is not a shield — it is a declaration. The symbols etched into its surface in ancient Nsibidi and Uli markings speak the language of Ngwa womanhood, of Abia soil, of a lineage that does not need to defend itself. The colors — bold, unapologetic, alive — are the answer to every word designed to make her small.

Martha built this mask the way she builds everything: with precision, with pride, and with the full knowledge of her own worth.

She is not cursed. She is the lion.

Hand-carved and painted by Martha Nneka Nnebedum as part of Slang Global's MASK-WE Project, Enugu, Nigeria. Featuring original Nsibidi and Uli symbols in the alebrije tradition. One of a kind.