Bark Masks and Bodypainting of the Yamana (or Yaghan) and the Selk’nam (or Ona) of Tierra Del Fuego

by Christopher Agostino

From the first time I saw a photograph of these full-body transformations from the cultures down at Tierra Del Fuego, at the very southern tip of South America, I was amazed, struck particularly by the complete success in disguising/removing the humanity of the individuals by very basic means. The human form is so effectively altered by the shape of the headpiece/mask. The eyes (our most identifiable human feature) are removed. The simple geometric bodypaint designs achieve the fundamental tribal bodyart goal of breaking up the soft curves of the human body to make it un-human. They look like aliens. I think I first saw such photos in the Marks of Identity exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History in 1999 (http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/bodyart/index.html), and made a sketch of the figures in my notebook. Since then I’ve seen a few other old photos — but only photos, and never thought to see the real thing because these are dissipated cultures.

 Yesterday I saw the real thing, two of the real masks, at the National Museum of the American Indian in New York, part of a fantastic exhibit of major pieces from their collection: Infinity of Nations.  These two masks are from the Yamana or Yaghan culture, from the 1910s, whereas all the other photos I’d seen were from the Selk’nam or Ona culture. In his Historical Atlas of World Mythology, Joseph Campbell talks about these two cultural groups being closely linked in their mythologies and rituals. He describes these as deriving from very ancient hunter-gatherer origins, without much outside influence since their location was so isolated.   http://www.nmai.si.edu/exhibitions/infinityofnations/

*Depending on the text, these two cultural groups are referred to by multiple names. The Selk’nam are also called the Ona. The Yamana are also called the Yaghan.  

The masked figures appeared in initiation rites and were used to impersonate powerful spirits. Worn by already initiated members of the men’s lodge, they would appear to the younger male initiates as manifestations of spirits they were raised to be fearful of and the effect would be truly startling. The initiates would have to fight the spirits and unmask them to learn the truth, and then they would be told the story of world creation and the origin of the masks:

In the time of the Ancestors, all things walked the earth as people. The sun, the moon, the mountains, all were people. Women ruled, and to maintain their rule they created a secret lodge. Led by Kra, the moon woman, the would wear bark masks and bodypaint themselves and would appear to the men so disguised, saying they were the powerful spirits who stayed with the women in their lodge. They would  frighten the men and order them to stay away. Kran, the sun man, discovered the deception. He and the men chased, beat and killed the women. Then they created the men’s lodge and their own spirit masks and disguises.

As a culture, the Selk’nam and the Yamana did not survive the encounter with Europeans. According to information that Campbell relates from Lucas Bridges, the son of an English missionary who lived there, there were about 8,000 Selk’nam in the 1880s, and less then 150 by 1947. They were killed both by exposure to European diseases and through an extermination campaign by ranchers who offered a bounty to hunters for killing the indigenous people.

seeing the real mask gives so much more information about their appearance and how the were constructed then visible in the photographs. This one was made with strips of bark laced together.

This is such an effective transformation of the human identity through such simple means. I can’t think of another example from world cultures that achieves so much so simply.

http://www.agostinoarts.com

World Masks – Facepainting Workshop

I had a wonderful experience yesterday sharing this art of transformation with a enthusiastic group of High School students. First I did a one hour presentation of my Transformation Lecture for a very attentive audience of art students.

Then we did a facepainting training session with a select group of the students, first demonstrating the application technique and then having them work in pairs to paint each other’s faces. After that it was students painting students, as the High School artists had the chance to paint several classes of Elementary School students, from pre-K to grade 4.

We were in an inspiring setting, surrounded by the students’ artwork on exhibit for their annual art and music festival. With the opportunity for each of them to paint several faces their confidence and creativity grew over the course of the session. In between the groups of younger students, the artists would add to and refine the faces they had painted on each other, creating several examples of striking designs. One of the joys I derive when teaching facepainting to new students is how they surprise me with what they create. Working without the pre-conceptions of experienced facepainters, they will combine colors and design elements with such freedom that I wind up learning  from my students.

Using traditional tribal designs as the models for the facepainting helps move the students past concerns about their ability as painters and fosters that sense of creative freedom. Tribal faces don’t need to look like any specific thing — they are celebrations of colors, lines, dots and shapes in any way the artist chooses. I share with them my belief that more important than what you paint on someone’s face is how they feel about being painted, and encourage the artists to make a connection with the child they are painting. Before each class came in to be painted, I talked with the younger kids about how wild they would look, in designs from tribal cultures around the world, and that their High School student artist wasn’t even going to ask them what they want to be because every face is a surprise. I can safely say that a good time was had by all. The artists did great job and we all enjoyed seeing how excited the kids were to look into the mirror and see the creative works of art they had become.

To learn about the lecture program:  https://thestorybehindthefaces.com/lecture/

For more info on the tribal faces that we used as inspiration, see: https://thestorybehindthefaces.com/2011/04/12/traditional-facepainting-world-masks-workshop/

 

Traditional Facepainting – World Masks Workshop

by Christopher Agostino

This week brings an opportunity for teaching a group of High School students how to paint faces. In conjunction with a performance of Before Cave Walls…The Transformation Lecture, I will be doing a hands-on workshop with a group of art students who will then have the pleasure of painting several classes of elementary aged students. We present these programs in schools within a cultural context, and so the face patterns I will be bringing into these workshops are traditional designs from world cultures.

Click on this link for the pdf guide sheet for this World Mask Workshop WorldMasks_facepainting_agostinoarts

From the magazine article that first fired my imagination about painting faces based in cultural traditions

Choosing which cultural examples to present students is always a conundrum. There is an infinite wealth of source materials, and I recognize that the limited selections I present may seem to represent a much larger world than they can. The examples I present in a workshop setting are different than those I might demonstrate in a lecture performance, as I want to give them designs that a novice facepainter can emulate. (For example, in presenting this program to experienced makeup artists I will include the classic female role face from the Chinese Opera which requires a facility with blending colors that is difficult for beginners.) I also use examples with minimal pictorial imagery because I want the students to work free from the idea of trying to create a realistic portrait of an animal or such. The less complicated the design examples, the more they can focus on what it feels like to transform a human face. And that is the primary goal of this workshop, to give these students the experience of being the mask maker.

Here are the 6 faces I am using as the key cultural examples.

Amazon: A Mayoruna matriarch wearing markings and whiskers signifying a powerful cat like a jaguar

Africa: Surma people, from the Omo River area of Ethiopia.

Papua New Guinea: Example of traditional face art from a highlands culture, painted for a festival

Native American: Portrait of “Fast Dancer” of the Iowa culture, by George Catlin, with the hand symbol signifying he is a warrior

Africa: An example of the asymmetrical bodyart of the Southeast Nuba, Sudan.

Japan: The “suji-kuma” pattern to portray a samurai

See a video and images from the workshop:  World Masks – Facepainting Workshop