Bozo Wood Marionette Headdress

A red fish with a yellow face and very full lips, looking pleased with itself.

This marionette headdress is Bozo, from Mali, West Africa, and is contemporary, in wood and pigment. The Bozo are fishing people of the Niger River, and their puppet theater, often staged on the water, is known for animals drawn from river life. The body is carved in a close grid of scales and painted bright red. The head and tail are yellow, edged in dots of red and white, and a striped yellow fin runs along the back. A black and white gill panel with dotted borders sits behind the eye. It is 31 inches from nose to tail and 6.5 high.

Fresh catch, in the most theatrical sense.