Nigeria is the most populated country south of the Sahara, with a long history of diverse cultures. The Nigerian people are prolific producers of art, some groups with a rich masking tradition that is still evolving and flourishing.

The Eket are farmers, a subgroup of the Ibibio people. Many of their masks are used during agricultural and fertility rites when sowing crops and to celebrate the yam harvest. These masks usually affirm the power of the sun and moon and the cycles of nature through the use of circular or moon-shaped forms.