masks, masking, and masquerades

When I previously looked at African masks I had many questions about why they look so abstract, what do the designs mean, why do some look like animals, and why are they worn.  This week in class, all of my questions were answered.

The Baule, Bamana, and Bwa cultures incorporate masks into their spiritual practices by performing masquerades. Different kinds of masks are worn to represent important values and ideas expressed in masquerades. Leaf masks are made of organic materials and symbolize life cycles, growth and fertility. They are usually burned after wearing in a dance. Plank masks are carved to represent a spirit whether it is a serpent, a bush pig, or a “crazy-man.” The spirit of the creature the mask represents is believed to embody the dancer.  Owl eyes are a design incorporated on the masks to symbolize “seeing” into the spiritual world. Masks are also viewed as necessary mediators between this world and the spiritual world. Cole’s article explains that there is not a direct translation for the word “mask” in African languages. Instead, they are called “head spirit” or “face of the forest spirit.” 

 The serpent mask is used by a family of a village to honor a serpent and being successful in courtships after an old story about how the young men of a village were saved by a serpent after being attacked by another village that they were trying to get wives from.

They use the colors red, white and black. Black and white checker designs are symbols for knowledge and teaching because they represent the hides used to sit on. The white hides are newer and used by the young men and the black hides are discolored from being in the rafters for many years and used by the older men. The dances are often celebratory, and the masquerades are used to demonstrate acceptable and unacceptable behavior.

It was interesting to learn that the masks are owned by families and the young men of the families are the dancers wearing the masks at the masquerades. Masquerades are dances with lots of interaction between musicians and the dancers and the audience. After a masker has danced, an old man (usually the previous owner of the mask) will dance to show the young men how the dance is to be properly executed and to boast of his skill as a dancer when they were younger. A dancer masked as a bush pig will kick up a bunch of dirt while dancing and try to sit next to the other dancers or audience members, and the other members are to move away from the bush pig.  Women have a large part in masquerades, although they are not masked, they still dance and actively participate in directing the dancers.  The masker as the “crazy-man” has his wife chase him around and try to calm him down as he lashes out at the audience and dancers by acting in an anti-social behavior.

The most important thing I learned is that we cannot separate the meaning of the masks from the importance of the context the masks are used in. We cannot study the masks without studying the meanings of the symbols of the culture they are from nor the dances they are used for.  The performance and idea of the spiritual relationship between the masks and the dancers are the most important aspects of the masks. I was very surprised to learn that underneath all the raffia the dancers hold the mask and usually with their teeth. It’s amazing to think of the strength, balance, and skill used to dance and hold a large mask. 

cross-cultural pollination

After reading “Radiance of the King” by Donald Cosentino, I believe that the paintings are examples of “ambassadors of cross-cultural pollination.” These paintings are praise portraits and visual narratives on flour sack canvas; the style of painting originated from 90’s Ghanaian Pop artists.  These new paintings where Barack Obama is the central figure were portrayals of the relationship of Ghanaian artists’ ideas of Barack Obama from what they had heard and seen about him through the media and also their own interpretation of their thoughts of who he is and their “yearnings” of what they want him to be. The paintings were then collected and brought to the Ernie Wolfe Gallery in West Los Angeles, California. These paintings are clear representations of "cross-cultural pollination" due to their content.

Other art that would fit into this category are the Ghanaian Akan textiles of adinkra which feature the andinkra stamps of President Obama, or President John F. Kennedy, and also the wax resists featuring modern technology such as buses and cell phones. These textiles are constructed in a traditional way, but incorporate subjects of modernity. West African funerary art is also influenced by Christian mausoleums and graveyards by placing African sculptures as the headstone or using coffins that are animal or object shaped. 

Batik

In class we learned about different techniques of creating textiles such as Woven (Kente and Togodo/Adanuvo), Wax resist (Batik, Adire, Adinkare, and fancy wax-print), Tye-Dye, and Mudd resist.  Nani Agbeli is an artist from Ghana and showed us some of his culture through Batik, lecture, performance, and music.  Thanks to Nani, we were able to learn how to create Batik first hand. We learned step by step how to print a design onto fabric using wooden stamps of Ewe and Asante symbols and hot wax, then we colored the fabric using dye.  I am very excited about learning this process. I was also surprised at how much labor it was to create one small piece! Nani also has a long history of performance art in music and dance through his family. His interest started when he was 5 years old.  Nani gave a performance using instruments and dance movements from Ghana. His dance movements were inspired from war and battle.  He also taught us some movements inspired from different kinds of African dance.  Overall, I feel that my ideas of African art and culture are greatly enriched due to what we have learned from Nani. I enjoyed doing the Batik project it was a lot of fun and really interesting.

When I thought about taking the Arts of Africa course I realized that I knew almost nothing about it. I knew a little about Egyptian Art, but that is so small in comparison to the size of Africa. In our first class meeting we were asked to discuss our thoughts on African Art. My first thought was that Africa is a very large, HUGE, place filled with lots of diversity in culture, religion, and beliefs. So African Art must reflect the differences and similarities to other African Art depending on the place its location. I also tried to imagine African Art and thought perhaps the older more traditional art might reflect some similarities to Native American Art.  Yet there would be even larger differences to contemporary African Art.


In our first two weeks of class we learned a lot about the Dogon Art and people. The use traditional practices of dance partly for their heritage and culture, but also to entertain tourists. Some of their artwork such as the wood carved sculptures used in their masks and headgear for their dances are not thought about as art to the African people, but rather as a key component in a necessary piece of their costume, and more of a job or skill than an object of beauty.


After these first two weeks of class I realize there is a lot to discuss about African Art. All of the architecture, costumes and masks, carved figures, pottery, sculptures, and clothing/fabric, and performance art really seems overwhelming to think about.  I'm very excited to learn more about African Art as the course continues.