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Adams's "Designs for Living" Notes: Spirit Marriage & Possession
I'm going to post some notes I took from Monni Adams's Designs for Living from 1982 (made in Cambridge MA at the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts in cooperation with the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology).
I grabbed this from a free box and liberated it soon after (so sorry, if you're wanting more context for these quotes, I don't have it). Ostensibly, it is about the design of various art objects (masks, sculpture, textiles) from various peoples scattered around Africa, but it has some interesting stuff about art, religion, spirit possession, and spirit marriage that I thought folks might also want to read! (Especially since this book looks exactly like the kind that is hard to find and expensive to buy.) It bugs me how all these different peoples are kinda lumped together but whatever, it's still information I didn't have before. The peoples mentioned here include the Yoruba, the Ibibio (both mostly in Nigeria) and the Baule (Cote D'Ivoire).
"Non-industrialized African societies, like similar societies elsewhere, use artistic efforts to address problems in the sphere of production--[...] to produce more crops, more children, or a state of health, protection, or prosperity. [...] Industrial communities, including many in Africa today, try to fulfill those aims through scientific manipulation of matter, such as through the creation of machinery, and reserve artistic efforts for encouraging the sphere of consumption [...]. The ultimate symbol of this emphasis is the art for art's sake credo" (9). In other words: there is a societal contrast between useful and useless art. (Though of course this is an oversimplification: my self-help one-pagers and essays are art that I make to address "problems in the sphere of production" and I post a lot of them for free!)
"The explicit framework for most African art is religious. [...] Specially made, enhanced objects we call art are created to address invisible beings, that is, spirits of various kinds and divinities, thought to have special powers to bring about prosperity, protection, and fulfillment of other desires. [...]
"[African sculptors] represent [...] human-like forms which are intended to provide a familiar place, a 'house' for a spirit or deity to occupy when called upon to hear appeals from the people.
"These invisible beings or forces are believed to share certain human qualities [...]: feelings, thoughts, and willingness to respond to human appeal, especially when cast in artistic form. Even harmful spirits, in order to be dealt with, are to be attracted by artistic means." (10)
"The nature of these spirits is not precisely defined. On the whole, they are enigmatic and their followers expend great effort to find out what has offended them and caused misfortune, or what will induce them to produce favorable results for the behavior. A third significant belief is that the human petitioner can influence the spirit's attitudes and behavior." (10-11)
"The aesthetic aspect of these symbolic forms [AKA, the beauty of the art] however is not addressed explicitly to the members of these groups among the [human] spectators, but to the invisible world of the spirits or gods. [...] Village people are nonplussed by questions about whether they like the forms; they see the display as directs towards the other world." (12) In other words, the art's not made for humans, but the spirits they're meant to house or influence.
"These images [sculptures] provide a familiar place for the spirits to return, a house or place to sit, in order to hear the appeals for blessing, for help in times of trouble, or for aid against enemies" (28).
This book does this weird dance around possession that is very glaring to me as a multiple: "One of the dramatic ways to call on the spirits to help with these [social control] tasks is for certain adults to accept roles of public authority but carry them out wearing masks and costumes, as if they were spirits from outside the village. [...] Fundamentally, the mask is to indicate the presence of a spirit." (70)
"The use of masked figures to perform public roles and duties seem to be more frequent or more likely when social units [...] feel a high tension or are especially competitive" (70). Or, you know, maybe if a group is at each other's throats, they want an outside party involved, and they trust the spirit more than each other.
"There are a number of different ways of wearing masks: over the face, as a hood or cap crest, and on top of the head. Typically, masks are worn with a costume that enlarges and distorts the figure of the human wearer" (71). Oh hey, like Nick Cave's soundsuits!
When discussing a specific type of Ibibio spirit that mounts people, and the masks reserved for them: "The other mask with blackened features distorted by a tropical disease and marked by puffed cheeks--symbols of ugliness--is called idiok ekpo, idiok meaning ugly and bad. It represents criminals and those who died violent or unnatural deaths, whose restless souls are believed to bring disorder and sickness upon the community. [...] The actions of idiok are wayward, violent, and irresponsible. The masker [the one possessed by idiok] shakes its body, runs through the village, climbing houses and trees, destroys property, and shoots arrows at women. [...] In the past, these frightening figures were the enforcers who carried our punishments ordered by the leaders of the ekpo association." (72-73, cited from Messenger, J. "The Carver in Anang Society", in Warren D'Azevedo (ed.) The Traditional Artist in African Societies, pg. 101-121, 1973) By the way, the mask/spirit they're contrasting the idiok ekpo to is the mfon ekpo, which is good, beautiful, and graceful.
Regarding Baule spirit lovers: "Each person is thought to have a partner of the opposite sex in the spirit world. If one is having difficulties, the diviner may blame one's spirit mate who feels neglected or find that an irascible, mischievous bush spirit has entered the person's life. In either case, if the client is able to afford it, he will commission a carving and placate the spirit by offerings to it. The spirit mate is given personal care by cleaning and rubbing with oil, food offerings are placed in tiny dishes before the figure. In contrast, offerings to a bush spirit are poured into the statuette. [...] The bush spirit figure is given the hairstyle and scarification markings that characterize the civilized person, in order to help modify its wild nature." (100, cited as Vogel, S. "People of Wood: Baule Figure Sculpture" College Art Journal 33, 1:23-25, 1973).
Regarding Yoruba possession: "One widely known cult focuses on worship of Shango, the thunder god. When possessed by the god, in violent frenzied states, devotees dance with this kind of wand [photographed on the following page], enriched by a female figure with child" (101). Due to the slave trade, Shango made it over to our side of the pond, and he's also a figure in Santeria, Vodou, and Candomble, so it's nice, feeling my ignorance lift enough to go, "Oh hey, I know who that is!"
I grabbed this from a free box and liberated it soon after (so sorry, if you're wanting more context for these quotes, I don't have it). Ostensibly, it is about the design of various art objects (masks, sculpture, textiles) from various peoples scattered around Africa, but it has some interesting stuff about art, religion, spirit possession, and spirit marriage that I thought folks might also want to read! (Especially since this book looks exactly like the kind that is hard to find and expensive to buy.) It bugs me how all these different peoples are kinda lumped together but whatever, it's still information I didn't have before. The peoples mentioned here include the Yoruba, the Ibibio (both mostly in Nigeria) and the Baule (Cote D'Ivoire).
"Non-industrialized African societies, like similar societies elsewhere, use artistic efforts to address problems in the sphere of production--[...] to produce more crops, more children, or a state of health, protection, or prosperity. [...] Industrial communities, including many in Africa today, try to fulfill those aims through scientific manipulation of matter, such as through the creation of machinery, and reserve artistic efforts for encouraging the sphere of consumption [...]. The ultimate symbol of this emphasis is the art for art's sake credo" (9). In other words: there is a societal contrast between useful and useless art. (Though of course this is an oversimplification: my self-help one-pagers and essays are art that I make to address "problems in the sphere of production" and I post a lot of them for free!)
"The explicit framework for most African art is religious. [...] Specially made, enhanced objects we call art are created to address invisible beings, that is, spirits of various kinds and divinities, thought to have special powers to bring about prosperity, protection, and fulfillment of other desires. [...]
"[African sculptors] represent [...] human-like forms which are intended to provide a familiar place, a 'house' for a spirit or deity to occupy when called upon to hear appeals from the people.
"These invisible beings or forces are believed to share certain human qualities [...]: feelings, thoughts, and willingness to respond to human appeal, especially when cast in artistic form. Even harmful spirits, in order to be dealt with, are to be attracted by artistic means." (10)
"The nature of these spirits is not precisely defined. On the whole, they are enigmatic and their followers expend great effort to find out what has offended them and caused misfortune, or what will induce them to produce favorable results for the behavior. A third significant belief is that the human petitioner can influence the spirit's attitudes and behavior." (10-11)
"The aesthetic aspect of these symbolic forms [AKA, the beauty of the art] however is not addressed explicitly to the members of these groups among the [human] spectators, but to the invisible world of the spirits or gods. [...] Village people are nonplussed by questions about whether they like the forms; they see the display as directs towards the other world." (12) In other words, the art's not made for humans, but the spirits they're meant to house or influence.
"These images [sculptures] provide a familiar place for the spirits to return, a house or place to sit, in order to hear the appeals for blessing, for help in times of trouble, or for aid against enemies" (28).
This book does this weird dance around possession that is very glaring to me as a multiple: "One of the dramatic ways to call on the spirits to help with these [social control] tasks is for certain adults to accept roles of public authority but carry them out wearing masks and costumes, as if they were spirits from outside the village. [...] Fundamentally, the mask is to indicate the presence of a spirit." (70)
"The use of masked figures to perform public roles and duties seem to be more frequent or more likely when social units [...] feel a high tension or are especially competitive" (70). Or, you know, maybe if a group is at each other's throats, they want an outside party involved, and they trust the spirit more than each other.
"There are a number of different ways of wearing masks: over the face, as a hood or cap crest, and on top of the head. Typically, masks are worn with a costume that enlarges and distorts the figure of the human wearer" (71). Oh hey, like Nick Cave's soundsuits!
When discussing a specific type of Ibibio spirit that mounts people, and the masks reserved for them: "The other mask with blackened features distorted by a tropical disease and marked by puffed cheeks--symbols of ugliness--is called idiok ekpo, idiok meaning ugly and bad. It represents criminals and those who died violent or unnatural deaths, whose restless souls are believed to bring disorder and sickness upon the community. [...] The actions of idiok are wayward, violent, and irresponsible. The masker [the one possessed by idiok] shakes its body, runs through the village, climbing houses and trees, destroys property, and shoots arrows at women. [...] In the past, these frightening figures were the enforcers who carried our punishments ordered by the leaders of the ekpo association." (72-73, cited from Messenger, J. "The Carver in Anang Society", in Warren D'Azevedo (ed.) The Traditional Artist in African Societies, pg. 101-121, 1973) By the way, the mask/spirit they're contrasting the idiok ekpo to is the mfon ekpo, which is good, beautiful, and graceful.
Regarding Baule spirit lovers: "Each person is thought to have a partner of the opposite sex in the spirit world. If one is having difficulties, the diviner may blame one's spirit mate who feels neglected or find that an irascible, mischievous bush spirit has entered the person's life. In either case, if the client is able to afford it, he will commission a carving and placate the spirit by offerings to it. The spirit mate is given personal care by cleaning and rubbing with oil, food offerings are placed in tiny dishes before the figure. In contrast, offerings to a bush spirit are poured into the statuette. [...] The bush spirit figure is given the hairstyle and scarification markings that characterize the civilized person, in order to help modify its wild nature." (100, cited as Vogel, S. "People of Wood: Baule Figure Sculpture" College Art Journal 33, 1:23-25, 1973).
Regarding Yoruba possession: "One widely known cult focuses on worship of Shango, the thunder god. When possessed by the god, in violent frenzied states, devotees dance with this kind of wand [photographed on the following page], enriched by a female figure with child" (101). Due to the slave trade, Shango made it over to our side of the pond, and he's also a figure in Santeria, Vodou, and Candomble, so it's nice, feeling my ignorance lift enough to go, "Oh hey, I know who that is!"
no subject
--J
no subject