Metropolitan Museum of Art-Mask Artifact Observation

The three masks I chose to explore from Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas at Met are Eharo Mask, Female Mask (Gambanda) and Mask (Kifwebe). Every of the three masks served for the different purposes and personalities of the maskers, manifesting the related factors through the employment of elements.

My favorite mask is Eharo mask, which is made by Bark Cloth, bamboo, cane and fiber. Different from large mask that is sacred to represent the water spirits, Eharo functioned for amusement during the performances at masked rituals centered on the visitation of water spirits in eastern Papuan Gulf region in southeast new Guinea. The masks were made and worn by men from neighboring village at the request of the village hosting the ceremony. Eharo first attracted me for having a funny look due to the bi-circular shape of its eyes and its interesting arrangement of lines that define the horizontal intersections of the mask. I would be so interested in and fascinated by the lines appearing on the masks because personally, I cooperated a lot with lines in my own designs. As I looked closer, the details resembling its ear caught my eyes, which is an interesting way of representing the real-life objects; more importantly, the sharp and monster-style teeth apply styles and personality for Eharo that is informal and entertained.

There are a number of nuances between the three masks that distinct the other two from Eharo Mask. For instance, the Kifwebe mask functioned not the same from what Eharo did at all, as how their part of the mouth were created in a different way. Eharo has detailed teeth inside its mouth, which could interested viewers for amusement; on the contrast, Kifwebe obtained this serious expression through its mouth in a tiny and specially shaped mouth without any teeth, which corresponds to its meaning of esoteric secret knowledge. In addition, both of them collaborated a lot with lines; however, the lines on Eharo was not filling up almost all the space like Kifwebe; instead, Eharo was kept simple enough to not look too serious for the performances. The mouth of the Kifwebe Mask also functioned as a symbolism in which the mouth is an entrance or exit of the mask as a vessel for knowledge as the maskers of Kifwebe were emissaries of the ruling elite.

For the Gambadna Mask, not a lot of related information is recorded in museum or online. It caught my eyes because there is hardly any mask that is specifically made for females in the whole exhibits. I particularly love designs that are female-gender based or inspired because it could tell a lot of historical stories about females. It’s the space and composition of Gambanda that attracted me. The space left for maskers’ eyes underneath is interesting since it makes the mask looking like a face that has the eyes closed and is indifferent about or denying things, which is also the sign of females avoiding eye contacts as wearing this mask.

The materials the masks were created by are cane, bamboo, fiber, bark cloth, wood and paint, among which are mostly natural resources and indicates the intimate relationship between African people and nature as tracing back to the past.