AFRICAN MASKS- my group's presentation

AFRICAN MASKS

CLOSER TO NATURE

In African culture, no matter in which part of the continent, masks have always played an important symbolic role. They were used as an irreplaceable element of ceremonial costumes. Whatever the event was connected with (usually it’s a combination of religious and social issues) wearing masks was crucial. Their importance was largely determined by their metaphoric function. They were mainly used to represent the spirits of the dead forefathers of certain communities, so wearing them seemed to be an attempt to take control over the evil forces by recalling souls to life. What is also significant and noticeable is that very often the masks possessed typically animal features. This was supposed to represent unification with nature, a clear indicator that all things happening in this world are connected with each other. That’s actually pretty much what African philosophy is all about.

THE POWER OF WOOD!

Majority of African masks is made of wood for several reasons. The most obvious one is that it is not a problem to come by this material: forests surrounding villages have plentiful of it. What is more, trees are believed to have spiritual souls which leads in turn to making the masks more ‘powerful’. Quite often sacrifices are being offered before a tree is cut down, to make sure the spirit living within it gives permission for carving the mask. Later on, but not too often, the masks may be splashed with sacrificial blood to make the power of the object bigger. Obviously this effective ritual might be skipped, so that wood decoration requires only dying with natural pigments (out of vegetables, plants, tree bark, seeds or even insects). In some tribes other materials might be used instead of wood. These are bronze, copper, ivory, glazed pottery, raffia, textiles etc. usually decorated with shells, bones, animal skins or vegetables.

A SHORT LESSON ON GEOMETRY

Geometrical patterns are probably the most common ones when it comes to decorating African masks. Actually every single pattern has a different meaning in every culture, so it is difficult to distinguish between them. They can for example be symbols of gender, history or social status of a person wearing it. As we may easily observe, many patterns seem to be similar to Islamic art, which is due to the spread of Moslem faith in Africa.

A PRESTIGIOUS JOB…

The best career option in an African tribe is definitely becoming a mask artist. This provides respect among other members of the community, although requires a broad knowledge, not only about carving techniques but also their impact on the value of each mask. An African tribal artist definitely has to know everything about symbolism and spiritual issues. What is worth mentioning, a training for such a trade demands at least three years’ education.


BIBLIOGRAPHY:
http://www.artyfactory.com/africanmasks.htm
FOR TYPES OF MASKS CLICK HERE:
http://www.artyfactory.com/africanmasks/masks/baule.htm