Mask Item Number: 2956/240 from the MOA: University of British Columbia

Description

Carved wooden mask. Mask has a long, stretched, smiling face, showing the upper teeth. He has a protruding nose and a long chin, with incised lines for hair.

History Of Use

Carnival mask. The mask makers of Lazarim have their own unique individual styles and distinctive repertoire of character types; José António da Silva Costa specializes in caricatures of public personalities.

Iconographic Meaning

Mask represents Jose Socrates (full name José Sócrates Carvalho Pinto de Sousa), Prime Minister of Portugal from 2005-2011. Socrates was replaced as prime minister by Pedro Passos Coelho (see mask 2956/239) in 2011. After Socrates lost the election he was ousted as Secretary General of the Portuguese Socialist party.