Many African societies see masks as mediators between the living world and the supernatural world of the dead, ancestors and other entities. Masks became and still become the attribute of a dressed up dancer who gave it life and word at the time of ceremonies.
In producing a mask, a sculptor's aim is to depict a person's psychological and moral characteristics, rather than provide a portrait.
The sculptor begins by cutting a piece of wood and leaving it to dry in the sun; if it cracks, it cannot be used for a mask. African sculptors see wood as a complex living material and believe each piece can add its own feature to their work. Having made certain the wood is suitable, the sculptor begins, using an azde to carve the main features, a chisel to work on details and a rough leaf to sand the piece.
He then paints the mask with pigments such as charcoal (to give a black colour), powders made from vegetable matter or trees (for ochre/earth tones) or mineral powders like clay (to give a white colour).
African peoples often symbolize death by the colour white rather than black; at the same time, many African cultures see white as the colour that links them to their ancestors, and it can therefore have a positive meaning.
One of the most dramatic manners whereby the contact between humans and the supernatural acquires a visible form is at the moment that spirits under the form of masks appear. According to our understanding, the mask is a means of partially or wholly covering the face or the body to render it unrecognisable, and through which the masker acquires another identity. In large parts of the world the original function – associated with the supernatural – has declined, and masking has evolved into a form of profane recreation coming to the fore only once or at most a few times per year, for example during carnival. In West and Central Africa, the function of a number of masks has remained much closer to its original significance. Consequently, such masks still manifest at crucial moments during the cycle of the seasons, and within the course of an individual’s life cycle as well. The mask wearer in this context is, therefore, a more important person than someone who masks for purely recreational motives. In the African context the mask wearer is always an initiated person whose identity is not made known. He undergoes not only a physical, but also a psychic
transformation. He comes under the spell of the spirit that he incarnates, and one believes that he so disposes of the supernatural characteristics of the latter. Since the supernatural stands outside the law of the living, one supposes that the mask acts according to its own whimsy. In these acts, however, sits a structure that is dictated by the priest, the magician, the society, the elders, or other forms of the power structure. They must watch over the observance of religious rules, the common law, and the maintenance of various rituals which must be carried out within the scope of events in life’s cycle. Thus, the masks are important instruments that aid in the consolidation of the position of power of the various authority structures.
Angola or Zambia or Congo / DRC / formerly Zaire
Bachaukwe / Bachokwe / Badjok / Bajokwe / Bakjokwe / Batshioko / Batsjokwe / Chaukwe / Chokwe / Ciokwe / Cokwe / Djok / Djokwe / Jokwe / Kioko / Kiokue / Quioco / Shioko / Tchokwe / Tschokwe / Tsjokwe / Tshokwe / Tsjaukwe / Tshioko / Tsonge / Tuchokwe / Watschiwokwe
This type of mask represents the archetypal, ideal young female beauty.
Most pieces show
traditional facial scarification patterns; markings / motifs that represent tattoos,
filed teeth,
remarkable hair styles.
About the tattoos the following has been written:
The cruciform tattoo with triangles on the forehead is known as cingelyengelye.
Originally, cingelyengelye occurred as a necklace in the form of a cross, cut from tin plate, and worn by the Chokwe as an amulet. During the 17th century, Capuchin monks from the Order of Christ of Portugal had distributed medals in the form of a cross throughout Chokwe country, and this cross was probably the prototype for cingelyengelye.
Another type of tattoo is known as cijingo, in combination with a cross. Cijingo denotes a spiral brass bracelet.
A tattoo on the forehead and extending to the temples is known a mitelumuna, or "knitted eyebrows," an allusion to discontentedness or arrogance.
Tattoos under the eyes are known as masoji, signifying tears.
Some masks have white kaolin around the eyes, which may represent the ability to see into spiritual realms.
In some masks including one shown here, the eyes are placed in large, concave sockets.
This type of mask is used to teach newly circumcised boys during their initiation rites/ceremonies and during other important occasions to bring fertility and prosperity to the village.
They were danced with older and wise male counterparts, named Tchihongo.
The rites are very exclusive and they are conducted in a private lodge outside the village. They learn secrets about mask rituals which women are forbidden to know, sex education (including proper ways to relate to women, and skills needed to support a family).
Exactly how this mask is used in the ceremonies is unknown.
It probably represents the woman/mother from which every boy is taken away, a physical and mental separation, as part of the initiation rite. The roles of the boys as children are killed, and they are reborn as men in society, independent from their mothers.
A costume of roots covers the dancer completely.
Attached to the headpiece using strings, is a torso with carved breasts and legs.
Chokwe women typically wore a hairstyle entirely coated with red earth and known as tota.
Many masks of this type have been created, of course at various levels of artistic quality, and can be admired in musea and books.
For instance, a few photos are printed in
Jacques Kerchache, Jean-Louis Paudrat, Lucien Stephan,
L'art et les grandes civilizations: L'art africain.
Paris : Editions Mazenod, 1988, 620 pp.
An exhibition devoted to the sculpture of Angola was held in Lissabon/Lisboa/Lisbon and in Antwerp/Antwerpen, with the following catalogue:
Marie-Louise Bastin
Sculptuur van Angola.
Lissabon : Instituto Portugues de Musea, Antwerpen : Stad Antwerpen, Ethnografisch Museum; Electa, 1995, 191 pp.
On the WWW site of the National Museum of African Art in Washington, USA, http://www.nmafa.si.edu/pubaccess/index.htm in 2004, we can read the following:
"This mask represents a beautiful young woman adorned with tattoos, earrings and an elaborate coiffure. The original Chokwe name (pwo) referred to an adult woman who had given birth. The more recent name, mwana pwo, probably adopted under European influence, emphasizes youthful, feminine beauty.
...
Pwo or mwana pwo is one the most popular dancing masks among the Chokwe. Because they follow matrilineal descent, the Chokwe dance pwo to honor the founding female ancestor of the lineage. A male dancer is dressed like a woman in a costume of braided fiber that completely covers his body and hides his identity. He wears a loincloth, carries a fan and moves in slow, precise steps to emulate a woman. When the mask becomes unusable, it is discarded. When a masquerader dies, the mask is buried with the dancer."
"Chokwe and related peoples:
Bantu-speaking ethnic groups, especially the Chokwe, Lwena, Songo and Ovimbundu, occupying much of Angola and parts of Zaïre and Zambia. These groups are related by origin and history. Their major art forms are wood sculptures, stools and wood and resin masks, though they also produce metalwork, basketwork and ceramics.
According to their oral traditions, these peoples were formed in the beginning of the 17th century as a result of an earlier migration of some Lunda aristocrats and their supporters from the Kalanyi River area of south-east Zaïre. Having conquered the indigenous peoples, the Lunda gradually assimilated with them, adopting many of their customs, while at the same time organizing them into separate tribal areas, each ruled over by a sacred chief. The Lunda conquerors do not seem to have brought with them an important artistic tradition, but the system of chiefs and chiefly courts they established, comprising both lay and religious figures, provided the inspiration and impetus for the development of the pre-existing indigenous sculptural traditions. The courts of the chiefs became the major sources of patronage for the arts.
The Chokwe, Lwena, Songo and Ovimbundu are farmers, hunters and small-scale pastoralists. Their society is matrilineal, with inheritance passing from uncle to uterine nephew. In keeping with the socio-political traditions of the Lunda, the chief’s successor inherits his supernatural power, name and kinship bonds through rites of investiture. The Lunda dynasty of Mwata Yamvo retains pre-eminence by seniority, the chief of the eldest lineage ruling over the Kalanyi River area where the tombs of the ancestors are located.
Everyone among these peoples knows how to work in wood, and many people carve small objects for their own pleasure. There are, however, a number of professional sculptors, trained through a system of apprenticeship, who are held in high regard. They produce a wide variety of such ceremonial and utilitarian objects as statuettes, stools, pipes, snuff-boxes, combs and musical instruments.
Chokwe Masks:
There is a great variety of Chokwe masks. Whether modelled in resin or carved in wood, all Chokwe masks incarnate spirits. They may be divided into three categories.
The first is the Chikungu sacred mask worn by the chief for his investiture and at a ceremony during which he makes propitiatory sacrifices to the dynastic ancestors, seeking their blessings for the well-being of the community. Chikungu’s face is modelled in resin. He wears an impressive winged headdress, similar to that depicted on Chokwe statues.
The second category of masks includes the numerous examples connected exclusively with the Mukanda initiation rite. They are also made of resin. The most important and visually distinct of these masks is Chikunza, the patron of the boys’ camp, who represents a benevolent spirit responsible for fertility and the hunt. Its name refers to the grasshopper, while its tall, conical and ringed helmet refers to the horns of the roan antelope. All these masks draw in their symbolism on aspects of nature. Their role is to govern the different phases of the ritual and to keep the female world at a distance.
The masks in the third category are always used by maskers performing in public in village squares. The two most important, Chihongo and Pwo, were originally made in resin but are now usually carved in wood. Chihongo is the male mask, auspicious for well-being and wealth, and was formerly worn by a chief’s son. It levied a sort of tribute and took part in judicial matters. Pwo, the female mask, evokes the ancestor of the lineage associated with fertility. Representing the feminine ideal, the dancer teaches women graceful manners and refined attitudes and gestures. The sculptor takes great care in making this mask, trying to produce a portrait of a woman whose beauty he admires. He imitates the proportions of her features, her scarification patterns and her hairstyle (e.g. Tervuren, Mus. Royal Afrique Cent.; Washington, DC, N. Mus. Afr. A.). There are no documented examples of Chokwe masks carved before the 20th century."
(source = Marie-Louise Bastin, in the Grove Dictionary of Art)
"The Mwana Pwo mask is said to bestow fertility upon people who witness its dance. Decorative scarification designs appear on the mask's forehead, nose, cheeks, and chin, including the cruciform cingelyengyele and the dotted, curvilinear mitelumuna "wrinkles" design.
...
The costume is a body sheath of netted fiber, fitted with wooden breasts for the male dancer. Carvers often model their Pwo masks on particular young women's faces. The spiritual representation, however, is an ancestral woman. Pwo perform from village to village. In some areas, the acrobatic dance is performed on a tightrope twenty-five feet high."
(source = WWW site of the Yale University Art Gallery, 2005)
