magpie & whiskeyjack: masks

Friday, October 29, 2010

Masquerade

Albany-based photographer and professor Phyllis Galembo is fascinated with masks and costumes. She has spent twenty years documenting rituals and religious in Nigeria, Brazil, Cuba, Jamaica and Haiti as well as Hallowe'en costumes at home. Thinking about Hallowe'en today, I'll share some of her photos of other sorts of 'ritual adornment'. Why is it that almost all people, have masks and costumes, and that these have ritual and meaning? Are we scared of things which go bump in the night, or do we want a turn playing their role, assuming their power?

Phyllis Galembo, OtogheToghe, Aromgba Village, Nigeria, 2005, Ilfochrome, 50 x 50 inches

Phyllis Galembo, Ekpodo masquerade dance, Christmas dance, Alok Village, Cross River, Nigeria, 2004

Phyllis Galembo, Baby Dance of Etikpe, Cross River, Nigeria, 2004

Phyllis Galembo, Zambia, 2007

Phyllis Galembo, Akata Dance Masqueraders, Ogoja, Nigeria, 2004, Ilfochrome, 30 x 30 inches

Phyllis Galembo, Gelede Masquerade, Agonli-Houegbo Village, Benin, 2006, Ilfochrome, 30 x 30 inches

Phyllis Galembo, Masquerade from Gossina Village, Burkina Faso, 2006, Ilfochrome, 30 x 30 inches

Her portfolios are extensive. Do yourself a favour and go peruse them (via Le Divan Fumoir Bohémien).

German photographer Thorsten Brinkmann sort of does the converse. Rather than travelling the world, documenting the ritual adornment of its multifarious cultures, he takes photos of himself, adorned ritually in everyday objects - to much the same effect.

Thorsten Brinkmann, „Reginald von Eckhelm“, 2010 © Thorsten Brinkmann,

Thorsten Brinkmann: "Venus del Whitespitz", 2008. C-Print, Edition 5 + 2 AP, 125 x 170 cm

Thorsten Brinkmann: "Inuk N unavut", 2006. C-Print, Edition 3 + 2 A, 115 x 154 cm

Thorsten Brinkmann: "Conde du Mütz", 2008. C-Print, Edition 5 + 2 AP 83 x 62 cm

Thorsten Brinkmann: "Karl Schrank von Gaul", 2008. C-Print, Edition 5 + 2 AP, 170 x 120 cm

(via TeenAngster)

My own interest in masks is celebrated today, in the spirit of Hallowe'en, by the latest in the rikrak studio's The Collectors series

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Heads or Tails?

In time for Hallowe'en, I thought I'd bring you some illustrated mask-wearing personages, and dismembered body parts. Vancouver-based artist and illustrator Andrew Pommier draws and paints men who are ready for the worst. The may be wearing masks, or animal heads, dealing with ferocious pandas, or turning into trees, or be slouching through life carrying skulls.