Erasmus Huis puts on world mask exhibition

Carla Bianpoen, Contributor, Jakarta

To honor Dutch Ambassador Baron van Heemstra and Baroness Godeke van Heemstra at the end of their stay in Indonesia, the Dutch Cultural Center Erasmus Huis is holding an exhibition of masks from the collection of private persons and institutions.

Curator Rudi Corens brought together masks from about 18 countries including Mali, Ghana, Nigeria, Zaire, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, East Timor, Japan, Korea, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Greece, Italy, Palestine, USA and Brazil.

Samples of every country mentioned provide an insight in the role that masks have played in the lives of people worldwide. The great variety also shows how masks are not only a disguise, but have become part of the human psyche, inspiring the imagination of the most diverse cultures. Cultural traditions developed differently in various countries, yet there seems to be a thread running throughout, denoting a transformation of the identity of its wearer as a basic feature of the mask.

Nobody knows the exact origin of the mask, but evidence of its presence in many places reveals that several cultures will have their own history of masks. In Africa, for instance, the first masks have been documented as occurring some over 30,000 years ago, when an indigenous hunter took an animal skin, and attached antlers to his head, to allow him to get closer to the animals he was to kill.

Other readings refer to another example of man's disguise: a cave painting in the foothills of the Pyrenees, in a cave known as Les Trois Freres, which shows an upright human figure with a horse-like tail, a beard and large antlers on its head.

The early masks then are believed to have taken the shape of animals because hunting played a large role in the early societies. As revealed in the exhibition, animal masks continue to play a role in communities where old traditions are still intact. There is for instance, a wooden buffalo mask from Burkina Faso, Africa, where the mask is used both in funeral as in agrarian rituals.

Still from Africa, are the Tjiwara (chiwara) masks that attract the attention by their peculiar shapes and rare esthetics. About one-meter high, these beautiful Tjiwara masks from Bambara, Mali, are highly stylized, and shaped after the elongated face of an antelope. In fact, these are the set up pieces for masks used by a male and female dancer in agricultural ceremonies. Tjiwara appears to be a mythical antelope believed to have taught the Bambara people how to cultivate their soil.

Interestingly, the Bambara word tji means work or cultivation, while wara means lion, the symbol of strength.

From Indonesia, the Titi Thuwit mask is attractive for due to its unusual shape, similar to a heron but actually a type of mythical bird.

From China there are a pair of baby shoes with a tiger sewn on the tip of each shoe, denoting the belief that the eyes of the tiger would prevent the child from tripping.

A multi-colored bull's head made of papier mache from Colombia, shows that animal masks survived the change in certain cultures and continue to entertain.

Masks are also used for healing ceremonies, as can be seen from the Iroquois mask that North American Indians made of corn leaves.

From a gender perspective, the exhibition had some masks representing females. Interestingly, these were all from countries with strong traditional cultures.

Apart from the Tjiwara masks, there were two large masks from Sri Lanka representing the goddesses Deva Giri and Deva Pattini. Another female mask is from Japan.

Contrary to the above-mentioned masks, samples of the ancient masks from Greece, dated around 5th century BC, and the chalk stone mask from the Palestine Hebron Valley dated 1600 BC, as well as the Japanese Dogu terracotta mask dated 2500 BC are impressively austere, showing only the basics (eyes, nose and mouth in the face) with no decorations whatsoever.

While one may be led to believe that the spirit of the mask belongs to the past, there is enough evidence that it is very much alive now. In performances enacting ^YPanji^Y stories of the Ramayana, for instance, we can see how the mask representing Panji is able to invigorate even a woman dancer of over 70 years of age. Even in the West, the mask seems to have a pivotal role in transforming its wearer with the spirit of the figure it represents, as evident in the Comedia dell' Arte, and even in Carnivals like Mardi Gras and Halloween.

In Greece, the use of masks in ancient Greek theater originates from the ancient dionysiac cult, the use of which was first made actual by the writer Thespis in the 5th century BC.

Until today, the Greek word for mask is persona and signifies the self or psyche in common English language. The shaman of the Alaskan Inuit Eskimos uses even digital masks to become possessed by the spirits, according to a sample in the exhibit.

As modern life proceeds, and we virtually "set up another mask" for every other occasion, we have to admit that the mask continues to be part of the human face, and often transforms the persona as we can witness in street protests all over the world.

Mask exhibition, January 15- February 15, At Erasmus Huis, Jl. H.R. Rasuna Said kav. S-3, Kuningan, South Jakarta. Phone 524 1069