Whats Behind the Mask?

Another week in Arts of Africa has passed us by and, for me, the cultures are beginning to get harder to keep separate of whose is what from where with what meaning. Every culture has a mask, or multiple masks with different meanings and significants so I feel like we have studied 40 masks already in 5 weeks. Hopefully by blogging every week, I can think through all the cultures and their masks and keep them straight.

The Bamana masks like the Ndomo are for young boys going through initiation to become a real man. They represent their change in society and in life from young, crazy, wild boys into educated, hard working, tough men who can control their actions and emotions. This culture also has the Ci Wara masks for the age grade groups focusing on agriculture. And the Kore and Komo which regulate a person's place in their society. For example, the Kore horse mask points out the person not wanted in the community, nicknamed the 'ass mask.'

The Bwa masks are the most interesting to me and how they are family owned. Their plank masks have so many figures or characters that all together represent a family, or clan while each individual has their own mask. The movie we watched in class really showed how they interact with each other, their drummer and their audience.  The patterns on the masks are not just for decoration but all the designs and colors have a specific meaning. The only colors used are red, black and white. They also have grass woven into the mask to create more movement in their performance. These masks of the families don't have to be danced by that person, the elder men hand their masks down to a younger man or boy to dance his mask for him. The Bwa also also have leaf masks which are older and represent life cycle, fertility and growth. They consist of a combination of leaves and feathers and after they are danced, the masks go back to the bush and are burned. Doing this enforces the renewal of life, the recreation of creation.

We also read to article The Mask, Masking, and Masquerade Arts in Africa by Herbert Cole which was a great review of the underlying meaning and significance of all masks in Africa. Their not just art, their a part of life in every culture. The article mentioned how a mask is made by the idea of the individual rather than just re-creating the face of them. I think that concept is spot on in how the masks get so elaborate in their decoration of patterns or colors of meanings and significance.

My group also had a discussion of represented vs. embodied. After some deliberation, I felt I really grasped the concept of the difference between the two ideas. The word represented is for the mask itself,  the spirit it represents. A person wears the mask to represent the idea or character. A mask sitting in a museum represents something. On the other hand, embodied is becoming the spirit, the performance of the mask. The dancer is embodied in the mask, he is that character and spirit, not just a dancer wearing a mask. Of the Bwa plank masks, its the difference of wearing the mask of the crazy man and being the crazy man.