BENIN PENDANT MASK (FESTAC '77)

The Benin Pendant Mask is a small ivory mask worn around the waist or neck by the Oba at Benin that is often associated with Queen Idia, who was a powerful monarch during the early sixteenth century at the Benin court in what is now called Nigeria. Two almost identical masks are extant: one at the British Museum in London and the other at the Metropolitan Museum in New York.

The two masks were probably made in the early sixteenth century, when Queen Idia, mother of Oba Esigie, ruled the Benin court.

Queen Idia was the mother of Esigie, the Oba of Benin who ruled from 1504 to 1550. She played a very significant role in the rise and reign of her son. She has been described as a great warrior who fought relentlessly before and during her son's reign as the Oba (king) of the Edo people.

The British Museum and Met Museum's examples of the Benin Pendant Mask are virtually the same, with only minor decorative differences. Both pendants denote a powerful image of monarchal elegance, having a crown composed of a series of minute heads that represent bearded Portuguese men, who were significant traders with the Benin Empire at the time. The foreheads of both masks were inlaid with a pair of metal strips to denote scarification marks. The band below the chin is slightly different in the two surviving examples.

The masks were not worn on the head, but carried as a pendant from the belt. Today similar masks are carried during ceremonies to remove evil spirits, but in the sixteenth century these masks may have been used during memorial ceremonies for the ruler's mother. The white of the ivory is believed to represent the god Olokun. In this way the portrait masks are not only expensive because they are made from the valuable and tradable ivory, but their colour also represents a god associated with the wealth of the Obo of Benin

Four pectoral masks were found in a large chest in 1897 in the bedchamber of the Oba, the ruler at the Benin court. They were discovered at a time of great civil unrest during the British punitive Benin Expedition of 1897, when many artefacts were dispersed and sold to Western collectors. The British Museum's pendant was purchased in 1910 from the British anthropologist Prof Charles Gabriel Seligman. The Met example was acquired in 1972 as a gift of Nelson A. Rockefeller.

The Benin Pendant Mask has become an iconic image of Benin art and it featured on Nigerian one Naira banknotes in 1973.

The royal ivory mask was the emblem of tjhe FESTAC ’77. The hosting of the festival led to the establishment of the Nigerian National Council of Arts and Culture, Festac Village and the National Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos. Most of the events where held in four main venues: the National Theatre, National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos City Hall and Tafawa Balewa Square.

The opening ceremony of the festival took place on 15 January 1977 inside the National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos. One of the highlights of the ceremony was a parade of participants representing 48 countries marching past visiting dignitaries, diplomats and the Nigerian Head of State, Olusegun Obasanjo. Some participants in the parade wore colourful ceremonial robes, some men were on 14-foot stilts, and Nigerian dancers carried flaming urns on their heads. To symbolize the freedom and unity of Black peoples 1,000 pigeons were released; a shango priest also set the festival bowl aflame.

The festival events usually began around 9 a.m. lasting till the midnight.

SOUTH AFRICAN CULTURE

South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa, is the southernmost sovereign state in Africa.

South Africa is the 25th-largest country in the world by land area, and with close to 53 million people, is the world's 24th-most populous nation.

South Africa is a multiethnic society encompassing a wide variety of cultures, languages, and religions. Its pluralistic makeup is reflected in the constitution's recognition of 11 official languages, which is among the highest number of any country in the world. Two of these languages are of European origin: Afrikaans developed from Dutch and serves as the first language of most white and coloured South Africans; English reflects the legacy of British colonialism, and is commonly used in public and commercial life, though it is fourth-ranked as a spoken first language.

The country is one of the few in Africa never to have had a coup d'état, and regular elections have been held for almost a century.

The culture of South Africa is known for its ethnic and cultural diversity. The South African majority still has a substantial number of rural inhabitants who lead largely impoverished lives. It is among these people, however, that cultural traditions survive most strongly; as South Africans have become increasingly urbanized and Westernised, aspects of traditional culture have declined. Urban South Africans usually speak English or Afrikaans in addition to their native language. There are smaller but still significant groups of speakers of Khoisan languages, not included in the eleven official languages, but are one of the eight other officially recognised languages. There are small groups of speakers of endangered languages, most of which are from the Khoisan family, that receive no official status; however, some groups within South Africa are attempting to promote their use and revival.

The oldest art objects in the world were discovered in a South African cave. Dating from 75,000 years ago, these small drilled snail shells could have no other function than to have been strung on a string as a necklace. South Africa was one of the cradles of the human species. One of the defining characteristics of our species is the making of art.
The scattered tribes of Khoisan peoples moving into South Africa from around 10,000 BC had their own fluent art styles seen today in a multitude of cave paintings. They were superseded by Bantu and Nguni peoples with their own vocabularies of art forms.
Contemporary South Africa has a stellar art scene, with artists receiving international recognition. The recent 'Figures and Fictions' exhibition of South African photography at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London included the work of Mikhael Subotzky, Zanele Muholi, David Goldblatt, Zwelethu Mthethwa and Guy Tillim. Contemporary South African artists whose work has been met with international acclaim include Marlene Dumas and William Kentridge.

There are 11 national languages in South Africa. South Africa's unique social and political history has generated a rich variety of literatures, with themes spanning pre-colonial life, the days of apartheid, and the lives of people in the "new South Africa".

There is great diversity in music from South Africa. Many black musicians who sang in Afrikaans or English during apartheid have since begun to sing in traditional African languages, and have developed a unique style called Kwaito. Of note is Brenda Fassie, who launched to fame with her song "Weekend Special", which was sung in English. More famous traditional musicians include Ladysmith Black Mambazo, while the Soweto String Quartet performs classic music with an African flavour. White and Coloured South African singers are historically influenced by European musical styles.

South Africa has developed into a major wine producer, with some of the best vineyards lying in valleys around Stellenbosch, Franschhoek, Paarl and Barrydale. South African wine has a history dating back to 1659, and at one time Constantia was considered one of the greatest wines in the world. Access to international markets has unleashed a burst of new energy and new investment. Production is concentrated around Cape Town, with major vineyard and production centres at Paarl, Stellenbosch and Worcester.

In general, all racial and ethnic groups in South Africa have long-standing beliefs concerning gender roles, and most are based on the premise that women are less important, or less deserving of power, than men. Most African traditional social organisations are male centred and male dominated. Even in the 1990s, in some rural areas of South Africa, for example, wives walk a few paces behind their husbands in keeping with traditional practices. English speaking whites tend to be the most liberal group, including on issues pertaining to gender roles.
In the 20th century, economic and political developments presented South African women with both new obstacles and new opportunities to wield influence. For example, labour force requirements in cities and mining areas have often drawn men away from their homes for months at a time, and, as a result, women have borne many traditionally male responsibilities in the village and home. Women have had to guarantee the day-to-day survival of their families and to carry out financial and legal transactions that otherwise would have been reserved for men.

South Africa enacted same-sex marriage laws in 2006 allowing full marriage and adoption rights to same-sex couples. Although the Constitutional and legal system in South Africa theoretically ensures equality, social acceptance is generally lacking, especially outside of urban areas. Gay women from smaller towns are often victims of beating or rape. This has been posited, in part, to be because of the perceived threat they pose to traditional male authority. The NGO ActionAid  has condemned the continued impunity and accused governments of turning a blind eye to reported murders of lesbians in homophobic attacks in South Africa; as well as to so-called "corrective" rapes, including cases among pupils, in which cases the male rapists purport to raping the lesbian victim with the intent of thereby "curing" her of her sexual orientation. Human rights watchdogs believe that much of the sexism and homophobia that erupts is tied to male frustration with unemployment and poverty.
 
 

 

INTRODUCTION TO THE WONDERS OF AFRICAN ART

The African art is one everybody falls in love with at first sight. It is not just beautiful, but it carries with it a message that only few persons outside of Africa understand.

Until recently, the designation "African" was usually only bestowed on the arts of "Black Africa", the peoples living in Sub-Saharan Africa. The non-black peoples of North Africa, the people of the Horn of Africa, as well as the art of ancient Egypt, generally were not included under the rubric of African art.

Recently, however, there has been a movement among African art historians and other scholars to include the visual culture of these areas, since all the cultures that produced them, in fact, are located within the geographic boundaries of the African continent. The notion is that by including all African cultures and their visual culture in African art, laypersons will gain a greater understanding of the continent's cultural diversity. Since there was often a confluence of traditional African, Islamic and Mediterranean cultures, scholars have found that drawing distinct divisions between Muslim areas, ancient Egypt, the Mediterranean and indigenous black African societies makes little sense. Finally, the arts of the people of the African diaspora, in Brazil, the Caribbean and the southeastern United States, have also begun to be included in the study of African art.

Westerners had long misunderstood African art as "primitive." The term carries with it negative connotations of underdevelopment and poverty. Colonization and the slave trade in Africa during the nineteenth century set up a Western understanding hinged on the belief that African art lacked technical ability due to its low socioeconomic status.

African art demonstrates the power of supremely well organized forms; produced not only by responding to the faculty of sight, but also and often primarily, the faculty of imagination, emotion and mystical and religious experience.

The study of and response to African Art, by artists at the beginning of the twentieth century facilitated an explosion of interest in the abstraction, organization and reorganization of forms, and the exploration of emotional and psychological areas hitherto unseen in Western art. By these means, the status of visual art was changed. Art ceased to be merely and primarily aesthetic, but became also a true medium for philosophic and intellectual discourse, and hence more truly and profoundly aesthetic than ever before.

African art takes many forms and is made from many different materials. Jewellery is a popular art form and is used to indicate rank, affiliation with a group, or purely for aesthetics.  African jewelry is made from such diverse materials as Tiger's eye stone, haematite, sisal, coconut shell, beads and ebony wood. Sculptures can be wooden, ceramic or carved out of stone like the famous Shona sculptures, and decorated or sculpted pottery comes from many regions. Various forms of textiles are made including chitenge, mud cloth and kente cloth. Mosaics made of butterfly wings or colored sand are popular in West Africa.

Exploring the wonders of African arts and culture is extremely exciting and rewarding, you won’t regret it.