American Museum of Natural History

Gallery

"I began my work by observing how masks are put on to masqueraders, how the human form is changed, how men become gods when they perform . . . The way I remember seeing masks and masqueraders when they performed for my town is the masquerades are alive and frightening and beautiful when they move. Fear in masquerading is an important element for the observer. It adds to the play of the spirits. This element does not come across in a museum, because the mask is not moving and is usually in a glass box." -- Sokari Douglas Camp	Naked Fish	"I was overwhelmed by the things I saw in Museum storage: masks and stools and objects that looked sacred . . . How could I touch these objects as a woman and feel safe? I believe that masks are ceremonial objects, sacred and magical. Not knowing the true history of these objects that were in storage, I felt uncomfortable." -- Sokari Douglas Camp
Dressing Okolokurukuru is a masquerade troupe of about 15 young men of Ikpo's compound in the town of Buguma. While members sew on their costumes, they make invocations and offerings to the water spirits. The drums beat out instructions which the performers practice, learning to translate the rhythms into each spirit's specific dance. The most successful performers are those taken over, or possessed, by the water spirits who animate their movements. A successful performer not only earns money but may be admitted to membership in Ekine, the men's masquerade society. Normally, women are not allowed to observe masqueraders in the act of dressing. As an older woman, Sokari was allowed to see things that are forbidden to younger women. Moreover, the role of artist is usually reserved for men.
Naked Big Fish	Headdress (Big Fish)	Naked Gelede
"After seeing how masquerades are dressed, I wanted to expose how men became gods. I enjoy the fact that Kalabari men look fetching in various states of undress, and when they have pregnant stomach and a phallus, I am interested in how they are put together. I observed Okolokurukuru, a teen-age group from my own compound. It would have been difficult to persuade an older group to show me so much. I have not used many things that Kalabari people do to dress a masquerade, but the things that I have picked up on are there because of working with Okolokurukuru. I am indebted to Kalabari history and tradition. I realized that the setting of a gallery has an openness like a village square. By creating paths where the audience could view the objects, one has instant interaction, far more than in a real masquerade situation where one wouldn't be allowed to approach the performer closely." -- Sokari Douglas Camp
Otobo		Otobo Masks
"Some Kalabari masks have faces that are worn on top of the head so the face looks directly toward the sky, an impossible position to keep for a four-hour performance, naturally, but with the help of a carved face, simple. "Otobo" hippo is one such masquerade. This spiritual character does not perform for the audience but concentrates on performing to God. I like this idea. Having your feet on the ground but conversing with the sky. Only when Otobo looks down do you get the full impact of his facial expression and see that he is a powerful animal that can eat men, turn over canoes. So he has a garland of skulls around his head. This masquerade belongs to the town and is not part of the Okolokurukuru entourage. -- Sokari Douglas Camp
Kalabari Masks		Ekine Member (Sekibo)
"I noticed that as I went through my work I seem to get attached to female themes. Alagba is a female masquerade. As a water spirit, she came to perform for mankind: when she arrived in the arena she had forgotten some of her regalia. So, in part of her dance she is slightly distracted. When asked to point to important shrines by the drummer, she does this several beats slower than the drummer, adding uncertainty to the beat and drama to the performance. There are also moments when she will hit her ankles in annoyance, as if to say "damn, I left that, and drat, I left that behind." It is difficult to do this convincingly, but we have some excellent performers in Buguma at the moment. -- Sokari Douglas Camp
Big Alagba	Alagba in Limbo
"Alagba is carried when she has completed her circuit of shrine pointing. I have never agreed with doing this to a god, unless something goes wrong. If the performer fails to complete the circuit, he has to be rescued by his compound, because he can be undressed in public if he fails the test the drummer has given him. Alagba in Limbo is a sculpture about my home, Nigeria, being in limbo. Alagba is not in a victorious position, she is being carried as if disabled. The front of her displays open legs and a penis (not the sort of thing a woman carries). I wanted to show discomfort, and the sexual ambiguity of masquerading, but also the fact that the man playing Alagba is exposed. In 1996, when this sculpture was made, Nigerians in the delta were killed without trial, and everyone felt lost with this sort of injustice -- I wanted to show the gods had left us and we were just left with men pretending to be gods." -- Sokari Douglas Camp
Two Copulating Fish		Headdress (Two Fish)
Abua Masks The Abua, neighbors of the Kalabari, dance water spirit masquerades called Egbukele and Onwuema. In Onwuema, the masqueraders purify the community through prayers and offerings to the ancestors. During the Egbukele festival, water spirit masquerades wear headdresses of swordfish, crocodiles, sharks and other predatory aquatic creatures. As with the Kalabari, masquerades are the property of men, and the performers are initiates in a male secret society. In the past, these men's societies had considerable judicial power, but today the entertainment aspect of the masquerade predominates.
Flying Fish with Bubbles		Headdress (Flying Fish)
Headdress (Bird)		Bird Masquerade with Big Tail -- "Piko Piko Come and Hug Me"
"The brooms and swords and fans that these performers carry are part of their character. Swords show power, violence, control, and fans show vanity. Brooms are tools to sweep away evil. The dancers act out mythological stories as the drummers accompany them. When the dancers move, the moment is caught by the sound of anklets made of dried out seed pods tied in four or five layers. This enables the dancer to add an accompanying rhythm to the main beat. -- Sokari Douglas Camp
Dandy Masquerade -- "Big Fish Eating Small Fish with Blood Trailing Down"		Headdress (Fish)
"Kalabari masquerades sometimes have fat stomachs, seeming as if they are at least seven months pregnant. They have phalluses too, so you have a dual sexual being. The headdress makes the wearer taller and changes the proportions of the figure. I have always had an interest in clothing, and I find the different fabrics and bits of tinsel and mirrors in masquerade costume fascinating. In the regalia of a Big Masquerade, there is also a reminder of the religious side of masquerading. The stomach area of the masquerade has a white apron, the white apron is spattered with blood. This mark is a sacrifice to the gods that play in any performance. -- Sokari Douglas Camp
	Big Masquerade with Boat and Household on His Head
"Gelede is a beautiful idea. When properly pronounced, it sounds calming and like drumming! I found out from books and conversations that it is a Yoruba masquerade invented to calm women's private parts. Gelede was performed by young men to appease their mothers because there is a fear of women, whom Yoruba men believe to have great powers. I liked that. Looking at the carvings of the headdresses . . . I realized that the carvers were describing women's head ties and taking them to an extreme, like thought bubbles coming out of a cartoon's head. There are geckos and lizards, hunters, acrobats and copulating couples on their headdresses and modern items, bicycles and airplanes. Gelede from Top to Toe is a reaction to so much being missed by just showing heads and no costumes. It is a sculpture depicting the complete shape of a Gelede masquerader from top to toe.
Gelede from Top to Toe	Gelede Masks