Gelede-marionetten van de Anago-Yoruba April 1-December 31 2001 Afrika Museum Berg en Dal.

Gelede-marionetten van de Anago-Yoruba

April 1-December 31 2001 Afrika Museum Berg en Dal, The Netherlands

I ardently agree with Allen Roberts's assertion that the Afrika Museum in Berg en Dal (an hour's train ride from Amsterdam) "deserve a elated day trip!" (Roberts 2000:78). I followed his advice and was, indeed, delighted. There I saw the exhibition "Wereld in Beweging: Gelede-marionetten van de Anago-Yoruba" (World in Motion: Gelede tools of the Anago Yoruba), a thought-provoking visual cornucopia of more than individual hundred magnificently motley Gelede masks rise aboveed by articulated figures, or "puppets" greatest in quantity of which had once been manipulated by means of a wearer pulling strings hidden inside the helmet of the mask. The dizzying collection of fabulous one-of-a-kind masks was onward loan from Mrs. Ursula Heijs-Voorhuis, a longtime friend of the museum. This particular collection is distinctive in that although Gelede masks have been widely accumulateed and studied (Beier 1966; Drewal 1974a, b; Drewal & Drewal 1975 1983; Lawal 1996) there has been no comprehensive application of mind of Gelede "puppet masks" from this critical crossroads area of the Benin Republic and Nigeria.

As a visual presage of what lay ahead, a turquoise ghastly didactic wall panel set not on with mandarin orange text (in Dutch and German) welcomed the viewer to the gallery space, explaining that the exhibition was divided into pair sections: Ere/Gelede masks and marionette masks. A large, striking, full-body mask with arms outstretched, called Alapafuja, and a Gelede example overpowered by a monkey conceptually bridge these couple sections of the exhibition space, as so masks often perform in the morning, between the nocturnal Efe observance and the afternoon Gelede celebration. To the left of these intermediary examples was a rotating platform of five masks, designated as Efe including a janus-faced bird/human, a hyena, a Great Mother with a extended board-like beard, and two composite Oro Efe masks. emblems such as these open the night performance before the day of a Gelede festival.

The nearest space, the main gallery of the exhibition hall, was filled to the brim with ninety-five doll masks, one breastplate with animated nursing twins (which, at common time, fed the twins by means of tubes), and another fully circulared female body mask with eight small male images that kick and nod. It was explained that these masks can be divided thematically into daily life, religious life, and sights of justice. It was not readily apparent, however, in what manner this thematic division played on the outside in the exhibition space; there were no special subdivisions or individual labels, in the same manner thematic interpretation was left up to the visitor. Sixty-one masks be built uped on a turquoise blue platform at varied heights and distances from the viewer lined three walls of the gallery, while three in the blues islands of masks, one of them rotating, further energized the space. Adding to the already charged atmosphere, five of these superstructure image masks moved in sequence: brace hyena masks (one of which is janus-faced) clapped lay open and closed their menacing, tooth-filled orifices flapped their ears, and stuck revealed their tongues; an acrobat stood onward his head while extending his feet in the air; another man leaned forward and clapped his hands; and a woman and her twins leaned forward, gestur and blinked their eyes

At first the synergy of this jam-packed exhibition space was overwhelming, and the kinetically visual bombardment disorienting. I place myself running from one moving mask to another, trying to absorb the exhibit while at the same time attempting to gues which mask would determine next. The feeling was a bit reminiscent of my first visit to a west African market, where I did not know where to focus my gaze, fearing that I would miss something if I blinked. When my initial excitement subsided, and I realized that I had all afternoon to take everything in, I slowed down and allowed myself to derive pleasure from the exhibition undistracted.

Clearly, in order to protect the more fragile and complexly articulated examples, alone five masks were wired to act upon and their gestures were simple. Nonetheless, seeing them activeed me to spend time examining the neck crowds knees, and other points of articulation forward the other ninety-odd examples. Attempting to figure disclosed how a mask once mov and anticipating which of the masks forward exhibit might move, not merely heightened the viewing experience unless also provided a fantastic exercise in looking. The staggering array of super superstructure in succession view included, among other representations, an Ogun priest wearing a r azure and black ensemble covered in palm fronds; a diviner who sits up and flings his divination chain with his right arm; a Catholic priest, bedecked in sunglasses, offering communion to the same of the faithful, who kneel with his inlet open to receive the sacrament; a heraldic lion that rears up forward its hind legs; seated dignitaries and leaders gesturing and shaking hands; executions and punishment scenes; boat builders, timber carvers, and a blacksmith working a forge; sum of two units copulation scenes; a drinking scene; a funeral scene; and a Muslim man being kicked in the behind by way of a goat. Among my favorites was a fabulous hairdresser using a large caruncle and scissors to cut a seated client's hair; not sole could he move his implements together moreover he could also turn his head and wink. Another favorite showed pair men fighting over a woman, each pulling united of the woman's arms back and forth. The men could bend backward and forward, and when they ventureed hard, the woman was suspended in mid-air. A last favorite was a man in succession a telephone; he could persuade both arms so that while holding the phone to his ear, he could gesticulation with his other arm. This telephone mask was also upon the cover of the catalogue.