Art Renaissance: African Unit

Gardner, Chapter 37: "Africa, 1800-1980" pp. 1121-1138 (Rituals and Masquerades, Art and Society: African Masquerades"

"Rituals and Masquerades" As noted, the Yombe pfemba may have been used to overcome infertility, and many of the artworks that Africans have produced from very early times to today have been made specifically for use in religious rituals and entertainments, most notably in masquerades, but also for display in shrines "Art and Society: African Masquerades" The art of masquerade, in which performers, almost always men, dance after donning masks, has long been a quintessential African expressive form, laden with meaning and of the highest importance culturally. In stateless societies, such as those of the Senufo (figs. 37-15 and 37-16), Dogon (fig. 37-17), and Mende (fig. 37-22), masks sometimes became so influential that they had their own priests and served as power sources or as oracles. Societies empowered maskers to levy fines and to apprehend witches (usually defined as socially destructive people) and criminals, and to judge and punish them. Normally, however—especially today—masks are less threatening and more secular and educational and serve as diversions from the humdrum of daily life. Masked dancers usually embody either ancestors, seen as briefly returning to the human realm, or various nature spirits called on for their special powers. The mask, a costume ensemble's focal point, combines with held objects, music, and dance gestures to invoke a specific named character, almost always considered a spirit; Such actions inform and affect audience members because of their dramatic staging (comical, intense, soft, nice); Thus masks and masquerades are mediators—between men and women, youths and elders, initiated and uninitiated, powers of nature and those of human agency, and even life and death. Maskers carry boys (and, more rarely, girls) away from their mothers to bush initiation camps, put them through ordeals and schooling, and welcome them back to society as men months or even years later. A second major role is in aiding the transformation of important deceased persons into productive ancestors who, in their new roles, can bring benefits to the living community. Because most masking cultures are agricultural, it is not surprising that Africans often invoke masquerades to increase the productivity

Ibibio Culture: Maidens of Mbopo (continued); Mbopo refers to . . .

* the prenuptial ritual of seclusion and fattening for young maidens * the fattened bride * the sorority of women who have successfully completed the ritual

Ibibio Culture: Maidens of Mbopo (continued); pre-seclusion requirements:

* virginity * first daughter (for certain communities) * family support, funding, materials

Ceremonial Madien Hairstyle with Combs, Efik Culture

*long braided hair with gold combs adorned in her hair while wearing a colorful outfit

Ibibio Culture: Maidens of Mbopo (continued); post-seclusion requirements:

*physical beauty (fatness) *Grace & Elegance *Maturity *Marriage and successfully pregnancies

The Beautiful Lady Mask

At funerals, Senufo maskers attend the corpse and, by dancing the masks, they help expel the deceased from the village. This is the deceased individual's final transition, a rite of passage parallel to that undergone by all men during their years of Poro socialization, in which masks also play a role. When an important person dies, the convergence of several masking groups, as well as the music, dancing, costuming, and feasting of many people, constitute a festive and complex work of art that transcends any one mask or character. Some Senufo men also dance female masks. The most recurrent type has a small face with fine features, several extensions, and varied motifs—a hornbill bird in the illustrated example (fig. 37-16)—rising from the forehead. The men who dance these feminine characters also wear knitted body suits or trade-cloth costumes to indicate their beauty and their ties with the order and civilization of the village. They may be called "pretty young girl," "beautiful lady," or "wife" of one of the heavy, terrorizing masculine masks (fig. 37-15) appearing before or after them.

Ekong Society Puppet

Beautiful style

Ejagham Culture: Ikem-style Skin-covered mask

Crest hat made up of animal hide and bore, helps provide the illusion of an actual person, performed only by men--brings forth wisdom from the ancestors unto the village

Ejagham Culture: Atal Stone Sculptures

Death memorial stones

Ibibio Culture: Eba Oboikpa hairstyle

Eba Oboikpa (means breast of a teenage girl). This hairstyle and isiko (facial motif) represents that the wearer is morally pure, and a virgin, and is ready to deal with they rigorous nature of womanhood

The Efik Crown of the Efik Nkuho Ritual, Efik Culture:

Efik nkuho hairstyle: Braids in the form of three thick crowns, which in this context equals "perfection." This particular hairstyle links the maiden of nkuho to spiritual deities, in addition to indicating that she has earned the rites and privileges of womanhood Hairstyle is aimed at attracting her husband's desire while enhancing her own natural beauty and tapping into her feminine style--natural essence as a woman, especially if she is going to ask a favor of him *braid kind of loc thickness--tail of hair and two side flap like wings, and a braided bang

Female Nimba Mask Baga Culture:

Female nimba mask (baga) the sculpture of a cultural mother (concept of Guinea) entity that represents all of the good things that are in older women (she is celebrated but not worshiped) has a big nose to stiff out evil spirits, head of plated air, being ears to hear dangers, long floppy breast that shows that she has nursed nations and shows she has nothing left to give but love. It is a helmet mask and someone would wear this on their shoulders and would be covered with covering around the front, sides, and back (the rafia);she is the earth mother Many museum tend to do is strip african art to make it seem beautiful based on white and european culture

Belgium King and The Congo

From about 1880 on it became very clear that the masks were not good protection against machine gun bullets. Journalist and author Adam Hochschild has spent the last three years researching a book about Central Africa and its colonization by Belgium's King Leopold the Second. He's surprised there's no mention of this history in the exhibit. The Congo was the scene of the bloodiest part of the European conquest of Africa. During about a 40 year period the population of that territory was cut in half. It dropped by 10 million people. Now the Belgian massacre wasn't the deliberate extermination of the people so much as the result of, in essence, slave labor over an area 1/4 the size of the United States King Leopold the Second conquered and bought off local chiefs then played the major European powers against one another so he could make The Congo Free State his own personal, very profitable colony. Wrote a Belgian senator and reformer in 1898, referring to the area from which these objects came, "Unceasingly we meet these porters-- Black, black, black, miserable, frizzy and bare heads supporting the load. They come and go like this by the thousands, dying along the road or the journey over. Heading off to die from overwork in their villages." At first they hold ivory, being used by African artists at the time to make icons like this Yumbe clan mother whose open mouth, it so happens, spoke to the departed dead. Then when bicycle tires were invented, rubber was discovered growing wild in Central Africa. A man of vast appetites, Leopold wanted to get the rubber out fast. His private army of 19,000 under white officers would go into villages buying slaves from local chiefs, or often simply taking women and children hostage to force the men into the forest. The hostages is were treated terribly, women were frequently raped. They were given nothing to eat. The men would have to go into the forest sometimes for a week, two weeks, three weeks at a time in order to get enough rubber to meet their quotas. The whole thing was administered by the whip and the gun. And then when you have a traumatized, malnourished population like that, as we know from the concentration camps, disease takes a terrible toll. The most chi

Ibibio Culture: Nwomo--Ekong Society

Funeral shrine for Ekong Society "warriors" *Indigenous to Ibibio Provinces *Biographical *Cyclical *Nexus of Ibibio Artistry *Nsibidi Ideograms (checkered patterns) *Red/White Chromatic Display (red=power color, blood, violence, brutality, anguish, etc) *Umbrellas *Figures

"Costume and Body Art"

Kente cloth, the distinctive textile of the Akan area, has, until recently, been woven exclusively by men since the 16th century. The brightly colored patterns famous today date to the 18th century. The name derives from kenten (basket), but the material used is cotton, except for the costliest examples, which are silk. Weavers produced the earliest silk examples, reserved for Asante kings, by unraveling imported fabrics and reusing the silk threads. The Asante produce kente cloth on horizontal looms in long strips 2 to 4 inches wide and then sew the strips together to create larger fabrics. Kente robes (fig. 37-24) are typically 6 or 7 feet by 12 or 13 feet. Men wear them like Roman togas, unbelted and draped over the left shoulder and arm with the right shoulder bare. Women also wear kente garments, usually consisting of a separate skirt and bodice. Researchers have documented more than 300 distinct colored warp and weft patterns, some associated with specific king each having a name variously derived from proverbs, historical events, or people. In addition to wearing masks and costumes on special occasions, people in many rural areas of eastern Africa, including the Samburu in northern Kenya, continue to embellish their own bodies. The Samburu men and women shown in fig. 37-25 at a spontaneous dance have distinct styles of personal decoration. Men, particularly warriors who are not yet married, expend hours creating elaborate hairstyles for one another. They paint their bodies with red ocher and wear bracelets, necklaces, and other bands of beaded jewelry made for them by young women. For themselves, women fashion more lavish constellations of beaded collars, which they mass around their necks. As if to help separate the genders, women shave their heads and adorn them with beaded headbands. Personal decoration begins in childhood, increasing to become lavish and highly self-conscious in young adulthood and diminishing as people age. Much of the decoration contains coded information—age, marital or initiation status, parentage of a warrior son—that can be read by those who know the codes. Dress ensembles have evolved over time. Different colors and sizes of beads became available, as did plastics and alumi

Wilfred Ukpong, BC1 Drill (2010)

Nigerian ideas connection to British Ideas; The Oil in Nigeria is what brought the British over for colonization. Uses the realm of performance art for the deeper conversation of the culture and how the world outside has affected their culture. The main person is an almgom of nigerian beauty standards and asking wether it is possible to see and view nigerian women outside of a european lens

African Art: Legacy of Oppression

Now for African Art as we know it this is pretty naturalistic. As are these two Yombe masks worn by priests to connect with the spirits of the dead whose color is white. In Yombe culture masks were called ngobudi, from the word that means a sinking feeling in the pit of the stomach. There's a huge range to Central African art styles. No surprise, since the so-called Congo region from which most of this comes is home to more than 250 different cultures. But the African art that's so affected the west is more abstract-- simple and dramatic, startling and exaggerated. Above all, this African art packed an emotional wallop. In generalizing forms and emotions it's impact became more immediate. Especially on the early masters of European modernism at the turn of the century, artists like Picasso. What it did for the modernists was to allow them to get away from realistic representation. Was too give them a visual vocabulary to use. It gave us an idea about how to give a psychological truth to the human form, or to any other figures, or to a scene that they wished to depict. Edvard Munch, The Scream. The face is very plain, it's been very simplified. There's a wonderful Luba vase that you have with the mouth open and up, and it's like it's yelling. So it allows us to tell a great deal economically by taking the figure away from the realm of reality. Austin points to this Suku statue of a clan mother as a case in point. A reminder of its cultures origins, with distortions that inspired modern artists, and still have the power to impress. This is The Woman. Yes, she's the essence of womanhood. She's is fertile. And she has made us. So when someone says, gee they couldn't do naturalistic images of people, they were very primitive. You say, no, no these are abstract ideas will call means to get them across.Exactly, the form that it takes really is a system of signs. In the way that things are put together that can be read by the people in their society. The artists of Central Africa glorified the motherness of their mothers, the chiefness this of their chiefs-- the blade here symbolizing the power of the chief's word. And the artists gave a grandeur to even the most workaday objects. From hair combs, to a wooden cup

Anthony (Tony) Okonofua

Okonofua's story demonstrates the significance of mbopo staging, which, in the framework of this discussion, truly amounts to the creation of something new. For Okonofua, the staging of this ritual, by itself, offers something very powerful to Ibibio culture—and in large part, the staged performance of mbopo is all that is left of the ritual. What is perhaps most surprising about Okonofua's mbopo projects is his keen understanding of the aesthetic dynamics of mbopo ritual. His particular interest in the ritual transcends the surface forms: the heavy weight of the newly emerged, the beads, the appliquéd cloths, and the coiffures Okonofua is interested in these things as they reveal the complexities of mechanical aesthetics, the mbopo machinery: the movement of weight and forms and how these are expressed through the apparel and gyrations of the initiate. For Okonofua, the spiraling coils of metallic adornment around the bride's legs, the bands of beads that shake and fall about heavy waists, the sounds of bells on wrists and ankles, hair sculptures that spiral high into the air or that roll into tightly structured balls across her head to form a moving crown of ritual orbs, sleek glistening figures that are doused in scented oils and appear and disappear as the blinding rays of the sun are reflected and refracted from these vibrant, fleshy, and undulating canvases, into the arrested gazes of celebrating onlookers—all of these are the mbopo aesthetic, and all speak of a process that is never stagnant, that is always in movement, that is always evolving. Tony Okonofua's take on mbopo aesthetic philosophy is perhaps most realized in an untitled sculpture of a bride that he completed in 2006 (Fig. 85). The work, which comprises a mixture of acrylic resins, was first sculpted in clay: the final sculpture was created with a process that is similar to the so-called lost wax method in bronze sculpture. This gives the sculpture the illusion of a heavy, stone-like façade, when in actuality it is quite light-weight.

Ibibio Culture: Maidens of Mbopo (continued); inside the fattening house

Physical Preparation (uyai) *Clitoridectomy (female genital mutilation) *Consumption of rich foods in large quantitates *Body massages and washes *Hair Design and Body Adornment Intellectual/Spiritual Preparation (edu) *Transmission of ideas from older women to secluded girls *Then aesthetics of femininity *Marriage training *Mothercraft (learning how to take care of babies and children) *Dances and songs

Ejagham Culture: Monenkim

Stage of a young girls life when she is sent into seclusion, fattened up (fattening ritual) to prepare for womanhood and marriage

Ibibo Culture: Staging (Mbopo)

Staging as a concept consists of modern-day interpretations of traditional Ibibio rituals such as mbopo. In such situations, staging refers to the activity of "performing" or "dramatizing" a traditional ritual within the framework of entertainment, pedagogy, and collective memory. For clarity, staging in this sense should not be misconstrued with theatrical components of traditional rituals (such as the activities of decorating the body or public outing ceremonies in mbopo). While these are activities that can be dramatized by performers as a reference to the original ritual, the primary difference is that the staged presentation is not real—that is to say, the performers would not necessarily include girls who were actually being initiated into the mbopo sorority. However, it should be noted that these ideas of staging are far more complex than they may appear to be at first glance. The staging of mbopo occurs in public spaces, most likely at a significant event. It involves the performance of important songs and dances that are associated with the mbopo tradition. Girls who are performing may or may not actually be a part of the mbopo sorority. It does not matter. Here, the concept of mbopo, the visual reverberation of the ancient ritual, is enough to stimulate a crowd to an earnest state of excitement and contemplation. Staging provides a framework in which young girls can show off their dancing abilities, and also one in which girls, who may not be so connected to the culture, may demonstrate their knowledge of the ancient ceremony, the language, and the overall expected demeanor of the legendary bride

Ere ibeji (twin figures) "Sacred image of the new-born twin" Yoruba Culture:

Taiwo - "having the first taste of the world" Kehinde - "arriving after the other" The Yoruba tribe of Nigeria are said to have one of the worlds largest proportions of multiple births. Of every 1000 births there is about 45- twin birth. It is felt that it was as a result of this large proportion of twin births that the tradition of Ere Ibeji was founded. Ere Ibeji is a wooden carving which is said to represent the spirit of a twin/s that has died. If a sculpture is seen a twin has died. A diviner must be consulted before a sculpture is made. It is made not only to commemorate the death of the win it is also to ward off the dead twin truing to bring (kill off) the living twin to appease them. A ritual is also done once in a while to appease the dead twin. If the second twin has died later, a second statue must be made. In regards to "art" being used in the word of African art because statues hold various meanings and emotions There's a real belief that when a dead spirit is not appeased they will be restless

Agbogho Mmuo (Maiden Spirit) Igbo Culture: Attire

The Agbogho Mmuo Masquerade attire is decorated with a host of linear motifs that represent uli body adornment--has faked breast attached

Mende women as Maskers

The Mende and neighboring peoples of Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea are distinctive in Africa because the women perform masquerades. However, the masks and costumes that the women wear conceal their bodies from the audience attending their performance. Women leaders who dance the Sande masks serve as priestesses and judges during the three years that the women's society controls the ritual calendar (alternating with the men's society in this role), thus serving the community as a whole. Women maskers, who function as initiators, teachers, and mentors, help girl novices with their transformation into educated and marriageable women. Sande women associate their Sowie masks with water spirits and the color black, which the society, in turn, connects with human skin color and the civilized world. The women wear these helmet masks on top of their heads as headdresses, with black raffia and cloth costumes to hide the wearers' individual identities while personifying the spirits during public performances. Elaborate coiffures, shiny black color, dainty triangular-shaped faces with slit eyes, rolls around the neck, and real and carved versions of amulets and various emblems on the top commonly characterize Sowie masks (fig. 37-22). These symbolize the adult women's roles as wives, mothers, providers for the family, and keepers of medicines for use within the Sande association and the society at large. Sande members commission the masks from male carvers, with the carver and patron together determining the type of mask needed for a particular societal purpose. The Mende often keep, repair, and reuse masks for many decades, thereby preserving them as models for subsequent generations of carvers. The glistening black surface of Mende Sowie masks (fig. 37-22) evokes female spirits newly emergent from their underwater homes (also symbolized by the turtle on top). The mask and its parts refer to ideals of female beauty, morality, and behavior. A high, broad forehead signifies wisdom and success. The neck ridges have multiple meanings. They are signs of beauty, good health, and prosperity and also reference the ripples in the water from which the water spirits emerge. Intricately woven or plaited hair is the essence o

The Puppet and the Girl (Daughters of Seclusion) Ibibio Culture

The puppets (maiden puppets) had hinged jaws, jointed legs and arms, and were carved to depict particular characters. Their attire appropriately matched the roles that they had to play, which included an array of possibilities such as a housemaid, the family head, a town crier, and the head chief of the village (Udo-Ema 1991, 221). Aside from contributing to the traditional entertainment and pedagogy of ekong ceremonies, the puppet character of the fattened bride also tacitly reinforced traditional Ibibio ideals about the role of women. All of the sculpted characters, regardless of their represented genders, were performed only by men; this is also true of the Maiden Puppet. The ekong plays were designed to utilize comedy and absurdity to poke fun at known individuals and "types" within the surrounding community This concept is important to consider as we look again at the Maiden Puppet. She is fashioned in the form of a fattened bride, an initiate of mbopo. However, within the ekong theatre, she can also represent a good and virtuous woman—a female who exemplifies purity. This reveals to us the high premium that is placed on mbopo ritual. The character of the Maiden Puppet, who is simultaneously an initiate and a virtuous woman, is always an absolute "good"—she is always the equivalent to and demonstration of morality and purity. The Maiden Puppet represents a young woman in the final stages of ritualistic seclusion and fattening, as would have been traditionally Movable parts on such a figurine confirm their performative function within Ibibio cults and masquerades. The puppets have a conversational purpose for "social entertainments" and pedagogy (Udo-Ema 1991, 219). The puppet's mobility is an indication of its function, not as a beautiful sculpture to be admired, but primarily as a medium through which local laws, beliefs, and ideologies are dramatically channeled. While beads, in mbopo, generally invoke ideas of beauty as they accentuate different portions of the bride's fattened body, it is important to understand that these ornaments, in the regional context of Nigeria, often represent power, prestige, spiritual prowess, wealth, and royalty. They are often part of the traditional regalia of Nigeria

Ibibio Culture:Ekong Society Pupper Theatre

Theatre of praise and ridicule during cyclical, seven year festivals

The Ekeleke Masquerade Video Documentary

Why is this masquerade performed? *to honor the water spirits during the dry season How often is the masquerade performed? *is performed 12 times in the morning in the morning and late afternoon, for 6 days How long is the performance of this masquerade? What is the general narrative (story) within the performance? Who are the main characters? * 4 divine spirits, the drunkard (diviner), the leopard, good overcomes bad, extra lady in the end (add texture to the whole scene) What is the role of the audience during the performance? What ultimately marks the end of the performance?

Ibibio Culture: Ibibio Maiden Statue

Wooden puppet bearing created hairstyle and breast adornment

Victor Ekpuk, Hip Sista no. 1 (2014)

a replication of a Nigerian woman with the "teenage breast hairstyle"

Stylized Hippopotamus by Akakporo, Igbo Culture

bearing abstract designs and symbols (nsibidi?)- motifs are reminiscent of those that would have appeared on women's bodies (looks like a leopard but is NOT a leopard)

Agbogho Mmuo (Maiden Spirit) Igbo Culture:

depicts a hairstyle that is replicated on black hair (crested hair) Crested hair is seemingly done to girl of rituals coming of age Agbogho mmuo, or "maiden spirit," masks are worn by men (members of the Mmuo Society male exclusive group) primarily in the Northern Igbo Territory at festivals (starting in the start of the dry season, during funeral rites, harvest seasons, annual celebrations) that honor important deities and earth spirits. They represent the Igbo ideal of female beauty: small, balanced features, elaborate hairstyles, and delicate tattoos. The men who dance agbogho mmuo masks wear colorful, tight fitting fiber costumes, entertaining the crowd with exaggerated versions of women's dances. It is a helmet mask. The mask performance is done so that a recently deceased man's soul is brought to the spirit world, preventing him from doing any harm to the living. The way the mask looks represents the ideals of how women should look/be. *white long face, crested hair style*

Contemporary Works: Otobong Nkanga, fattening Room (1999)

is a deeper talk about the fattening ritual, the artist is confined in a stiff structure with her feet stuck through them (a structure that looks like a skirt); speaks to the seclusion and confinement; no sense of identity, coming out of seclusion and only being seen for their body and worth based on their communitie's standards; The shape of her clothing was made to allude to Victorian/European fashion connected to the way the European influence has affected Nigeria and their customs. The blouse is of South America origin to show how outside influences are now part of their original culture

Awok

massive pair of metal rings worn during the outing cermony by the girls

Nsibidi (body art)--Igbobo culture (Ejagham)

pictograms that have turned into language---writing based by body image that are placed as line form to tell a story

Victor Ekpuk, Mbobo (Maiden) Series no. 2 (2004)

represent s a beautiful Nigerian woman who is not currently in Nigeria

okukin

specific dyes that women painted themself with; He notes that "their patterns were usually abstract, derived from floral and geometrical motifs"—but he does not associate such designs to nsibidi writing

Ibibio Culture: Cross river Male Society: Ekpo Society

the men's ghost cult (Ekpo means ghost)

Efik Culture: Cross River Male Society: Ekpe Society

the men's leopard cult (Ekpe means leopard)

Ibibio Culture: Cross river Male Society: Ekong Society

the society of warriors (Ekong means war)

Ibibio Society: Ekong Society Puppet

ugly syle

Oron-Ibibio Culture: Ekpu Sculture

when an old man dies these sculptures are made of the old man; when a woman dies, a pot/bowl/vase/object that contains water is made to represent her

Igbo Ukwu Bronze Vessel, Igbo Culture

work by Smithers of copper, alloys, sophisticated bronze work, etc. They were wealthy, creative, and sophisticated (9th and 10th century)