First Experience

Upon arriving at Yale Art Museum, my first impulse was to experience the African Art display. I found myself to be captivated by many of the pieces. In fact, I found my children to be even more intrigued by the entire art experience. At the ages of nine and six, they brought my attention to some of the pieces that they found interesting. The first piece that stood out to all of us was the D'mba Mask. The mask is a representation of a beautiful mother. It represents the mother of fertility, protector of pregnant women, and presides over all agricultural ceremonies. It is from Guinea and was created ca. (appx.) around the Mid-20th century. It is an abstraction of the ideal female and her role in society. It is made from wood and brass, and some of the features that are highly respected by the Baga people are the flatten breasts, the scarification of the face and breast, the beak of the nose, and the cornrowed hair. The flatten breast means a women who has nurtured many children until adulthood. The scarification of the face and breast means stability within the conditions of the environment. The bird beak is in relations to the belief that birds are messengers from the spirit world. And the hair is done in a parallel pattern showing the scarification on the head, it is in relations to the patterns of the agriculture grown in the African fields. The mask is publicly shown at wedding ceremonies - used to give direction to new union. It is shown at funerals to initiate the dead, and during harvest to celebrate productivity.

The work of art that my nine year old son was drawn to the the "Processional Cross from Ethiopia. The crosses were made during the 17th century, and is made out of Copper and Alloy. I believe that he was drawn the crosses because of the symbolic representation of Christianity. The Procession Crosses are metal crosses that have historically been cast through the "lost-wax" process to ensure uniqueness. The central motif, or idea of the Procession Cross was to show "no bounds". The cross is derived from the Ethopian Orthoox Tawahido (Tewahedo) Church. It is an oriental orthodox church in Ethopia and was part of the Coptic Church. The Coptic Church was an indigenous christianity that was established by the Apostle Mark in Egypt. It was created in the middle of the 1st century. In 1950, the oriental Orthodox Church was giving the status of a hierarchical church whose head bishop did not have to report to any higher-ranking bishop (autocephaly). The collection that caught my eye to the point of my getting lost in the art was the Miniature Masks (Maa Go). The collection represent Guinea, Ivoy Coast, and Liberia by the people of Bassa's, Dan, Gbi, Kpeke, Lama, Mana, Mau, and We. The tiny masks are portraits of their owners, the owner ancestors, or the nature spirits. And for some reason I felt the spiritual magnitude within the creations. The significance for the mask being miniture was so that people could carry them in their pockets. They were used as inspiration for ritual power. They were mostly owned by high-ranking male ritual leaders, and was served as a portable point of contact with the religious community.This last piece of African art that I was very intrigued by was the Headdress in the form of a female Head. Created in Nigeria in the late 19th to early 20th century, you could see the resemblence of our african women. The Hair represents the strength and creative style that could go hand -in-hand with some of the styles that black women wear today. The smooth brown skin shows the beauty in black women, and the teeth show the slight impefection (to some point fo view) that some black may have with their teeth. We call the space in-between the front teeth a gap, and to some it represent imperfection, but to others it represent the strong gene and uniqueness.