Superhuman

Superhuman/Medicine Man Museum visit

Disease Mask, painted wood, Sri Lanka 19th century

Superhuman/Medicine Man
I chose a mask from the Medicine Man exhibition because it reminded me of my culture, and had a similar meaning to the masks I saw in Cameroon.

Henry Wellcome had a strong interest in the links between anthropology and health. Ethnographic material, including a huge number of masks, made up more than half his collection.
Masks were (and are still) used to disguise the wearer in cultures throughout the world, but their significance varies greatly.
Disease masks like the one I have chosen, were in use in Singhalese healing rituals, where demons believed to be responsible for illnesses were exorcised from the sufferers. These complex night-time ceremonies, accompanied by beating drums and burning resin, involve the suffering patient being confronted with the incarnation of the malady in the form of the masked shaman, or 'edura'.
This mask may have been used to treat diarrhoea. [information from signs in Wellcome Museum.]

This mask with its large staring eyes, looks like a scary human face. It is made of wood, and brightly painted. Its face is blue, with bright red lips.
I was surprised by the bright lips and eyes with red lines which seem to show the patient's sickness. The way they made the mask seems to really represent the reality of sickness, and was brightly painted perhaps to stand out when used at night.

Where I come from in Cameroon, we also used masks for healing sickness and driving out demons. Cameroonian masks are also made of wood, but they are usually less naturalistic than this mask (personal experience).

Looking at this mask at the Wellcome Museum, made me read a book on African Art, and especially to look at the information on masks. The book made the interesting point that the quality of the art often depends on a "culture" of artists, with enough work to keep them active.

"The availability of materials, often coupled with elaborate political institutions, seems to have encouraged artistic production in quantity, and in Africa, as elsewhere,  quality seems to be in part dependent on this. It is the most productive traditions which have given us some of the finest African sculpture for high production indicates sufficient commissions not only to keep the gifted carver in practice but to enable him to develop his style".

African Art revised edition 1993, Frank Willett pp18-22

"Father Carroll’s remarks on this are highly pertinent, for he has had many years of close contact with carvers working in what is probably the richest tradition, that of the Yoruba:

            'Constant suitable work is necessary for the full development of a carver’s abilities. It was the group of carvers in a district- repeating the same themes and only gradually introducing new ones- which built up a cumulative genius capable of supporting the less gifted carvers. It was…this evolution as a group, rather than the religious intensity or emotion of the carvers, which gave much of its artistic power to the old carving.' "

Ibid p22-23

It made me wonder about moments in artistic history where a "school" of artists built on each others work and developed new ideas- e.g the impressionists.

I was also fascinated by the information on how masks were hidden. 

"Some sculptures are kept wrapped up and hidden from sight except when the rituals are performed. The Yoruba figures which commemorate desceased twins are commonly wrapped up in cloths and kept in a calabash by their mother, while in Ife ancient terracotta sculptures are reported sometimes to be buried in the ground between festivals."

Ibid p170

I found this particularly intriguing  as "hiding" and the " hidden" had been themes in my foundation year.

Masks are often used in Africa for dances. Dancers usually wear costumes made of woven materials. I am interested in the connection between masks and costumes, and how it might be developed in my work. This piece of research has been very useful for me as it has opened up a new area, as well as shown an old connection.