TRADITION

WHY THE MASK?

THE INSTRUMENT

The mask, as alive as a musical instrument, is most affective when the player understands it's range. As in music each changing note creates a new mood, which can evoke our emotions. When watching the mask in action, quite like the musical instrument , we need to feel it's resonance to appreciate it. Every twitter, ring, clash, flicker and sparkle is full of colour, image and sound resounding as much as the delicate touch of the bow on the violin or the taps of a stick on a drum.

To be able to send that note out across a wide and dense space, with accurate and honest vitality, the player must begin to grasp the fine discipline of the mask, through a careful and keen study of it's alphabet, language and vocabulary that are the basics of the masks' technical and physical range.

Tradition and craft

Today, apart from museums and private collections, the only place where masks are still seen is in the theatre or carnivals. Many of the modern theatre masks have their roots in the traditions of the tribes of the world. From Greek tragic to Italian Commedia dell Arte ( the art of comedy ) to the Japanese Noh theatre to Indonesian dance masks to African to Tibetan to Aztec stone sacrificial masks to the Bella Bella and Nootka Sound masks of the North West Coast American Indians to the Mexican Day of the Dead skeletal masks, are to name but a handful of egsamples of the immense variety that make up this treasure.

Held in my hands, the ethnic mask may look simple and easy to make, but without a concise practical understanding of the tradition of the craft and skill behind it, any attempt at making the mask could turn out as just another poor imitation. Behind the tradtion of the mask making lies an exact purpose for it's existence. Each artefact has been designed for a particular ritual and in most cases the mask maker has learnt the skill from his ancestors. Amongst the millions of idols, temples, churches, tombs and images that bear witness to mankinds beliefs, masks are the one artefact that mankind has actually been able to wear and become a physical part of, enabling him to express the forms of his reactions to his life.

A ritual is a ceremony to mark a specific change in the cycle of an individual's life. Whether it be birthday, marriage, puberty or the change of the seasons or death or even the afterlife, it is a time to embrace the new day and to leave the old one behind.

It is no wonder that the mask in every available material and for every possible rite, was ever made. Could there be a more accessible and tangible way to accommodate the celebration of the gods and goddesses, the spirits of the earth and the heavens and the personal images of the human being?

In tribal cultures, if masks were used for entertainment, then they would also be used as mirrors of the " soul ", entrusted as precious tools and catalysts for the purposes of purging, exorcising, healing and informing the community of the unseen forces in and behind a person. Thus they were revered, feared and respected not just for their aesthetic value, but also for their practical knowledge and " spiritual " integrity.

To take an interest in the tradition behind any skill, craft or art form is more than just showing a healthy respect for it, but a way of beginning to recreate history in the present. This affects my life, my future and those I meet along my path.

The Mask

is the map

of the face,

a window

into the story

of time.

Old stories,

common ones,

untold ones...

We can hold

the mask

in our hands,

but not the story,

which,

like the mask,

goes much further than language.