A group of 30 Dogon masks before a public performance. Sanga region, Mali

"For the Dogon, the èmma consists of a person dancing in a costume that includes a headpiece but is not limited to it. Masks are not worn; masks are men who dance, perform, and shout. The total outfit consists of a kind of skirt and arm adornments fashioned from red and black fibers, a pair of very wide Dogon trousers, a headpiece with cotton bands for attachment, and various handheld objects relating to a particular mask, such as a dancing stick, a rattle, or a dancing ax. The headpiece defines the type of mask, but the fibers define the outfit as a mask." [Hollyman S. and Van Beek W., 2001: Dogon, Africa's People of the Cliffs. Harry N Abrams, Inc.]. During his trip to Mali, Elisofon visited the Dogon people in Sanga (Sangha), a group of thirteen villages lying east of Bandiagara at the top of an escarpment. This photograph was taken when Eliot Elisofon was on assignment for National Geographic and traveled to Africa from January 19, 1972 to mid April 1972.