Heart-shaped masks. The kaolin or white clay on the face making them pale and eerie in the dark. They seemed alive.Pure in design and construction--clean, uncluttered lines--you could have believed that the world's best minimalist designers had made them!
Today we take ideational thinking in the arts for granted--but lots of us believe that it is only the modern, "civilised" world that is capable of such clarity of thought--of conceiving powerful imagery that is so subtle yet defined.
What was the idea behind the construction and use of such masks in tribal society that had as yet felt little influence from the western world?
Was it to reveal or conceal the wearer beneath? Neither, apparently.
These ritual masks helped the wearer take on a new identity--and communicate with the Other World--the world of the dead and the spirits. Masks took on a whole new meaning in the context of the performance or the ritual for which they were used. Revered and feared--they gave ordinary humans the ability to see beyond ordinary reality. To safely live on the edge--at least for that space and time. The wearer thus turned larger than life--and identified so much with the persona of the mask that he forgot himself--
This was not play-acting for the audience's sake. It was a deep need to connect with the forces of nature, the spirits of animals and trees--the forces of the psyche, that were normally kept under wraps.
Today too people "wear masks" in day-to-day interaction. But instead of conferring power and prestige they actually take them away! They make us less than we can be. Just ourselves. Connected with our deepest being.
Tribal cultures, however, never confused the real with the make-believe!
No comments:
Post a Comment