The accessories of African culture

MASKED MEN: Malcolm Calcott shows off the colourful mask he made at Pataka Museum in Porirua, which has a children's corner in its West Africa - Rhythm and Spirit exhibition. The show's masks come from Nigeria and Ghana and were used for various utilitarian purposes among tribes there, from authority to religious to ordinary community celebrations and festivities.

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American Peace Corps' workers Joel and Patricia Vanderburg worked in West Africa in the 1960s and 70s and, like other travellers, brought home a few objects from 23 of the cultures they aided.

But until they settled into retirement in Otago, they did not realise just how many carved figures, masks, adornments and decorations they had. It turned out to be hundreds.

"We had a collection. We began to feel an obligation to show it to others," Mr Vanderburg says.

These arts, crafts, ceremonial and utilitarian objects make up the exhibition West Africa - Rhythm and Spirit, showing now at Pataka Museum of Art and Culture.

The Vanderburgs lived in the same town, but were sent to different countries.

He went to Nigeria to research waterborne parasitic diseases and she went to Ghana to teach science education.

They met up, got married, and travelled around West Africa.

Along the way, as volunteers working in the villages of hundreds of tribes and cultures, they saw the rituals, ceremonies, festivals and ordinary activities of Africans. And they took notice of the objects used  drums, necklaces, shawls, swords, fabric cloths, shells, masks, beads, weavings, chain ornaments, alters and shrines, figurines and carvings, copper jewellery, and utilitarian objects like combs, spoons, and trading valuables like ivories.

Often they would be given some object as a mark of respect from the villagers.

At other times they bought objects on sale in markets  not as tourist trinkets, but as everyday objects used by African people.

"We didn't have any serious intent to bring home a big collection of fantastic art," Mr Vanderburg says.

"These were not extraordinary or exclusive things, they were part of people's everyday ways of life."

As a trained archaeologist, before becoming a biologist, Mr Vanderburg turned an ethnographic eye on the objects.

He recognised that "these were dynamic, living cultures, vibrant, ancient, sometimes conflicting", and that the objects were special artefacts. The objects fall into several major categories.

Some were used to show social status  kingship and authority. Some were used in spirit rituals, for example, to represent a desire for a child. And some were used in divination ceremonies including predicting the future.
Some were supplications to any numbers of gods. Some were costume masks and masquerades for festivities or important occasions, such as celebrating a harvest. Many were for personal adornment.

Mr Vanderburg says some things, such as drums, were not only used ceremonially or for entertainment, but for communication. The old African movie staple of a native drumming on a log to signal a distant tribe is not too far from the truth, which is richer and more complex.

Mr Vanderburg once lost a watch in a Yoruba village area and mentioned it to the headman.

Over the next few days he heard drums all through the area. But only after his watch was returned to him did he realise the drums were actually "talking".

"The Yoruba language is tonal, like Chinese. The pitch of their drums can actually be changed to mimic the language's tones. They weren't just using a Morse code, they were speaking words of the language."

In retirement here, the Vanderburgs thought they might show a few of their items.

They went to the Otago Museum and began months of curatorial work, mostly done by Mr Vanderburg.

He says the exhibition, which will only be shown at Otago Museum and Pataka before heading to Melbourne, have relevance to this country and many others besides the obvious art.

It's one that is consistent with the Peace Corps idealism, which still exists.

"We're strong believers in education. We wanted to show the diversity of peoples. "We're all part of the same planet, and all affected by all peoples, and we affect all other peoples.

"We may behave better when we know and understand each other better," Mr Vanderburg says.

West Africa - Rhythm and Spirit is showing at Pataka until April 18.

- Kapi-Mana News

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