Year 5 children visited the African Worlds Exhibition at the Horniman Museum on the morning of Thursday 17 Feb. The key object they are focussing on is the Mende Mask from Sierre Leonne and the session began with a detailed look at the masks followed by the children writing their personal and 'uncensored' responses to the objects.

If it could speak I think it would say "I'm free, I'm me and I'm beautiful".

Ugly - it looks ugly because it has lumps on its neck and it is fat.
Scary - it is scary because it looks like it is staring straight at you

It's funny... it makes me feel uncomfortable..., strong, hairy, old, rusty, bumpy, fat, small face

After this Viv, Sola and Tony gave some of the background information to the masks linking them to the work the children had already been involved with on the introduction day. The children then looked around the rest of the exhibition and selected one of the many different masks to draw in detail.

They then searched out three different shapes or patterns taken from masks or costumes, drew them carefully and wrote down what they thought they represented.

The children finshed the session by visiting Rita Keegan's display in the gallery above African Worlds. This work, which displays outcomes from the artist's residency at the gallery and her response to the exhibition with its emphasis on hair, costume and adornment, linked very well with the focus of the school's own project.