Charl Landvreugd
Spirited Gestures: Notes on Life Masquerading as art
In West Africa the tradition of the masquerade, which is performed by the spirit dancer, still exists. The masquerade can be compared to a theatrical performance in which legends and stories are played out by (various) characters and the social values of society are reiterated. They are a reminder of correct social behaviour in order to keep the balance. It often takes quite a lot of training to be able to perform a particular masquerade and to be able to mimic the dance steps and personality of the spirit. These performances are not completely secular. They may well be part of religious ceremonies where the spirit, ancestral or otherwise, possesses the dancer. The knowledge and power of the spirit is expressed through the performance.
The spirit dancer is part of a secret society within the larger community and the masquerade is their public face. This society is As an undergraduate studying the history of “involved in initiation, curative activities, adjuart, I had a moment when I felt resistance dication, social control and sometimes polto the theory. It was not because of what itics� . During the performance the audiwas said, but rather because of the claim ence is an important part of the event. Their made that one particular contemporary phiresponse to the masquerade, be it singing, losopher had cooked up a remarkable train dancing, clapping or physically engaging of thought. Mind you, he had lived outside Europe for many years. I argued with my pro- with the dancer, gives the masquerade purpose. Looking at this through the lens of the fessor that this knowledge was not new and art historian, it is the interaction that creates that I had been brought up with it as a way of seeing the world. The professor replied by the total artwork. saying that we know it’s not new; however this philosopher wrote it down first. From this moment on I made it a point to try and look at art through the lived experience of the African diaspora. Writing for Who More Sci-Fi than Us is an opportunity to raise questions that are based on the lived experience, through WestAfrican inspired Masquerade mechanisms in the diaspora. What happens when we look at the works in this exhibition through the lens of diaspora performance histories? How then do they function as a critique and how limited or broad is their agency in and beyond the scope of the Caribbean context? There is no claim here to be saying something new but through this line of thought I hope to raise questions about the place of the Caribbean artist in the global arena.
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