Northern Edo Masquerades - Artists

Artists

African art and African artists are regarded in a different sense of the word “artist” than what persons from other cultural backgrounds might conceive. An African artist is one who works in many different capacities, rather than just being a “starving artist," of Western lore. Most of these men and women work on farms as laborers and seasonal help. An African artist is highly regarded as a professional who may have become skilled in many mediums, such as wood, metal, leather, mud, wall painting, ceramics, and many other different aspects of creativity. Unlike their counterparts of the United States and Europe, researchers and collectors of art were not so much concerned with the artist’s name and identity, rather than to remember the artist as a well-known member of his or her village or town.

Many African artists throughout the years have established themselves with more of a regional reputation, attracting patrons of their craft, who wish to procure commissioned work. According to Lawrence Ajanaku, an African artist,

“No one learns from anyone else how to do it. It is something we are born with. It is the kind of knowledge that remains in the center of our being”.

The best-known of the Edo groups, the Okpella, use a wide, varying range of mask types, which, according to some African artists, may take up to a year to complete. The masks that are created by the artist convey many different types of rituals and ceremonies. One example of this is a brilliant, white-faced mask representing “dead mothers”, appearing during the annual Olimi festival, which is held at the end of the dry season, and is worn by dancing kinsmen. This festival, as others do, signifies social control and ancestral reverence, celebrating the transitions of age-grades.

The Otsa festival embraces women dancers in addition to the male, the tradition masquerade dancers. The women portray “mothers”, who sponsor new plays and as supporters who perform in concert in between masquerade plays. During the festival, the “mothers” come to the dance area with their masquerades to sprinkle chalk and water, which symbolizes peace and good luck. This festival annually celebrates the feast of Otsa to purify the land and reinforce community solidarity.