Black Elk Speaks is a personal narrative that encompasses an autobiography of Black Elk’s life as a holy man and healer coupled with the tribal history of the lifestyle, and tough challenges that Native Americans faced during the westward expansion movement of white settlers. In the beginning of the book unravel the first unique cultural practice of the Lakota people. That is, before telling his story Black Elk invites Neihardt (the author of the book) to smoke with him the red willow bark in the holy pipe as an offering to the great spirits. The four ribbons tied to the holy pipe represented the divine powers of the four quarters or seasons. The Black color characterized as the west stood for the source of rain, the White for the north…
Skull Mask become a part of Day of the dead because during the Aztecs and other Meso-Americans reign they kept skulls as trophies and flaunted them during ceremonies. The skulls then represented death and reincarnation. The reincarnation part of these ceremonies was the most important of the ceremony. Aztecs and other Meso-American cultures believed their beloved relatives came back from the dead during the monthlong ritual.…
The Masquerade Would you believe me if I told you that wearing a mask could save your life? For centuries slaves and captives had to mask their real feelings to survive in their new environment. They had to pretend that things were ok and life was good to survive their circumstances. While reading the books Night and Olaudah Equiano there is a reoccurring theme of being in denial and content, during their horrific experiences. Both books tell the personal and tragic stories of the captivation and enslavement of Jews (Night) and Africans (Olaudah Equiano) written by men that were taken captive themselves as children.…
This body of work was inspired by two things: my fascination with wearable art (such as the pieces created by artists, jewelers or costume designers like Debra Hampton, Rob Elford, Katie Hovencamp, Jeffrey Dever, Melinda Risk, Sandra Wilcoxon, Alexander McQueen or Bob Mackie), and my interest in the rituals that are used by different religious cultures, whether they are monotheistic, polytheistic, centered in animism, or based solely upon plant-induced visionary experiences. I have always felt most drawn to spiritual relationships that are based in nature, such as those used by adherents of Native American or Wiccan belief systems. At the same time, I am attracted to the proceedings and the sacred objects that are used for Catholic, Buddhist, Jewish, and many other religious ceremonies.…
It "covers the face, presents the image of a face other than that of its wearer, and conveys the message that wearer is temporarily not representing himself. "17 In King Lear, masks are used for two reasons: to conceal one's plan and to protect oneself or others. Edmund, Goneril, and Regan are hiding behind metaphorical masks to conceal their evil intents. While Edgar and Kent wear masks to serve virtuous purposes.…
The mask allows them to worship the sun, by wearing it during ceremonies. The Incan people worshipped the sun because, they thought the sun's heat will create rain so their crops will grow. They did this because in Western South America it barely rains.…
One indicator, of a teenager struggling to establish their identity, would be that the teenager begins to outwardly reject the establishment of their parents. This is usually the most notable conflict between parent and teenager as it creates a clash of ideals between the individuals. During this rejection and rebellion stage, teenagers may seek out religious practices that are different than their parents. By rejecting the preference of the parent; the teenager is not disregarding or discounting the religion of the parent, but merely searching for a religion that the individual can make their own.…
Every African culture has its unique mask. The general outlines of the mask, the ratio of the main features of the face, the shape of the eyes and eyebrows, nose and nostrils, the shape of the mouth, the ears, the presence or absence of teeth, haircut, and coloring usually allow a relatively accurate adjustment of its affiliation to a particular nation. The whole life of African tribes riddled with confident of existence of a parallel world of spirits. Every tree, the animal, the mountain has its spirit - friendly or hostile. African dancers, wearing masks and speaking out against the dark spirits, were convinced in safety as the spirit cannot see their faces, therefore, it cannot harm them.…
The novel, “The Last of the Mohicans” by James Fennimore Cooper reveals how divided the Indian tribes are. Not only do they speak different languages, they are constantly at war with one another. However, it is interesting to see that these tribes share some common practices and traditions. The warriors practiced scalping, each tribe/individual had animal totems, and the Natives usually had their faces and bodies decorated in paint for various reasons. These shared traditions may not have united the warring tribes, but they served as links binding them to a common cultural heritage.…
The Dama, or the African Mask Dance, has been performed for hundreds of years however is only performed every sixty years as it is based on a celestial cycle that refers to a star that circles around Sirius (Rik Pinxten, 2015). It is a significant part of the African history to follow this particular celestial cycles. The Dama is a ritual dance for the Dogon Tribe of Mali, situated in West Africa. This essay will examine and analyse the movement and non-movement components within the dance. It will also analyse how this ritual dance preserves the Dogon Tribe’s culture and history.…
I realized that some of the men making these masks weren’t making theses masks to reflect the traits and general beauty of the women in the society. Some of these male artists were making these masks, which are basically idols and symbols of “peak” womankind, were illustrating what they wanted the women to be. I feel now that the masks weren’t meant to draw inspiration from, but to be ideals that these women had to become to be a “true” woman of the society. These aren’t masks that are made recreationally or for private patrons either, they are used only on special occasions that highlight their importance and power, treated differently than other crafts, given special choreography in ceremonies, and mostly danced by…
Symbolism was first used in the world through art which includes painting, sculptures, and theatrics. The symbolism that I used in my mask was to symbolize how I love to read, how I love to play basketball, how I love diamonds, and also how the story The Masque of The Red Death is symbolized with the death of many people. The masks represents many things about me and want I love in my life. Two items that I put on my mask was many torn out pages of a book and a red painted basketball. This symbolizes how I love to read a lot and love to use my imagination while reading a story and also my love for basketball.…
When we think of Mesopotamia or Egypt we can automatically assume that these two civilizations were of prominence to today’s society. Mesopotamia and Egypt were two very different civilizations with very different values, beliefs, norms and even Religions. Yet both artistic styles and interests were somewhat similar and composed of common materials and resources used to make certain sculptures and paintings. Both civilizations contributed greatly to our art advancements and made it possible for us to better advance over the years with the use of their techniques and style. Mesopotamia is considered to be one of the first human civilizations.…
Throughout the semester, when observing multiple forms of art; while all struck me to be beautiful, the one individual piece of work that I saw truly inspiring was the Bronze Head of Ife, which dated back to 600 A.D. This work inspired me because of how the art was way ahead of the time period in which it was created. The procedure to craft these bronze heads was complex in the way of casting the metal, and furthermore, it required large amounts of manual labor. This form of artwork was underrated at first, though as cultural and economic factors were introduced behind the Ife Head, the opinions quickly changes. At first sight, many viewers would think the art is unskilled and behind from the European forms of art. However, on the contrary,…
Black Skin, White Masks by Frantz Fanon focuses on the psyche of people of color in a white world. The book basically explores what goes through the mind of black people and whites under conditions that have been set by white rule. It mainly expounds on the effects of racism on black people and the society in general. A thorough analysis of the book reveals multiple themes that are echoed throughout the text. This essay will focus on some of the themes in the book.…