Otago Museum humanities registrar Scott Reeves displays an Igala boy's initiation mask from Nigeria. Photo by Gerard O'Brien.
The exhibition will feature masks, cloth, carving and beading from the personal collection of American couple Joel and Patricia Vanderberg, who now live in Dunedin and who collected the pieces while living in Nigeria and Ghana in the 1960s and 1970s.
"It's such an amazing part of the world with such a variety of language, architecture, art and music. We hope this [exhibition] catches some of the spirit of that part of world."
Pieces in the exhibition had been scattered around the globe, as the couple travelled so much, but now they were more or less settled, they had brought them all to New Zealand, he said.
The museum will also celebrate West African culture with a themed day on July 18.
