Masking Traditions: Honoring our mothers The Religious Landscape Beta Madhane Alemi, Lalibela, largest of rock cut churches, has a nave and four aisles and surrounded by a colonnade of plain square pillarsca. 13 th century Djenne Mosque, Djenne, Mali, adobe bricks, Completed in 1907 after the original 14 th century model Igbo Mbari House to Ala, the Earth Goddess, Adobe and wood, 20 th century Nkisi Nkonde, Kongo Peoples, Zaire Wood, cord, iron, nails, feathers, pigment Natural fibers 20th century h. 83 cm Ifa divination TrayOpon Ifa, Fon Peoples, Republic of Benin, Wood, Late 16 th - Early 17 th century Today there are well over 100 million people who practice or profess the Yoruba Religious Traditions SanteriaCuba, Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Puerto Rico etc Candomble in Brazil 201 Gods and Goddesses known as Orisa The mask is Figure with Mask like Head, Rock Painting, Tassili, 10,000 BP African Art and the Modernist Engagement Pablo Picasso, Les Demoiselles dAvignon Oil on canvas, 1907 the mask werent just like any pieces of sculptureNot at all. They were magic thingsThe Negro pieces were intercesseurs, mediators I always looked at fetishes... --Pablo Picasso Pablo Picasso, Les Demoiselle DAvignon (detail) 1907, oil on canvas Mbuya (sickness) mask, Pende, Zaire, Polychrome wood, 20 th century Fang Mask, Gabon, polychrome wood, 20 th century Mask, Republic of the Congo, Painted wood Late 19 th century Pablo Picasso, Detail of Les Demoiselle DAvignon, 1907, Oil on canvas The mask is the mediating force at that delicate intersection between the real and the imagined; the concrete and the imperceptible; The serious and the playful; the whimsical and the terrifying; the living and the dead 1.Ancestral veneration/worship; mediation 2.Rites of passageeducation 3.Social controlpunitive; intervention; social harmony 4.Entertainmenthumor and satire. Ancestor Veneration Oba William Ayeni, Orangun of Ila wearing the Great Crown (Ade Nla) with beaded Veil, Yoruba Peoples, Nigeria 20 th cent Chiwara Masquerades in performance during the agricultural cycle, Bamana Peoples, Mali Crest Mask, Chiwara, Bamana, Mali Wood, 20 th century Bobo (Butterfly) mask, Burkina Faso (Upper Volta), Painted Wood, cloth, 20 th century Members of the Do in performance Dossi, Burkina Faso (Upper Volta) Wood, natural pigments, grass fibers 20 th century Dje (antelope) masquerade in performance, Dabuzra, Cote DIvoire Rites of Passage : Initiation & Education Sowei Headdress, Gola/Vai Peoples, Liberia and Sierra Leone, Wood, 20 th century Sowei Headdress, Sande society, (Gola, Vai Peoples) Liberia Sierra Leone Wood, pigment 20 th century Boys initiation, Gabon Fire spitter mask (kponugu), Senufo, Ivory Coast Wood, 20 th century Social Control Gelede Headdress with two pythons attempting to swallow a tortoise Yoruba, Nigeria, wood, pigment, 20 th century Ijele Mask at the 2 nd Burial Ceremony, Achalla, Nigeria, Mixed media, 20 th century Yoruba Egungun Masquerade, mixed media, 21 st century Egungun ensemble Yoruba Peoples, Nigeria Cloth, wood, metal 20 th cent. Egungun masquerade in Dance motion Yoruba Peoples, Nigeria/Benin, 20 th cent. Humor and Satire Gelede masked performers, Yoruba Peoples, Ketu, Democratic republic of Benin Masquerades, Yoruba, Nigeria, wood, cotton, 20 th century Parodying the Colonial Other (Egungun) Masquerade Yoruba, Nigeria wood, animal hide, cotton, pigments 20 th century Diasporic Transformations Egungun ensemble honoring Sango, Oyotunji, Sheldon, South Carolina, May 26, Photograph by Bolaji Campbell. Nick Cave American, b Soundsuit, 2006 Found knit sweaters, socks, drift wood, dryer lint, and paint Helen M. Danforth Acquisition Fund Wole Lagunju Marilyn Monroe and my African Sensibilities Acrylic on canvas 2013