Maske, a Photography Journal by Phyllis Galembo

International Fri 15-10-2010

Maske, a Photography Journal by Phyllis Galembo
Courtesy Of foto8.com

Phyllis Galembo’s interest in the masquerade traditions of Africa and its diaspora began twenty five years ago, with her first visit to Nigeria. Since then, she has travelled widely in west and central Africa, and regularly to Haiti, making portraits that document and describe the transformative power of the mask.

Boy at Beach, Jacmel, Haiti 2004

Her subjects are participants in masquerade events, both traditional African ceremonies and contemporary fancy dress and carnival, all of whom use costume, body paint and masks to create mythic characters – sometimes entertaining and humorous, often dark and frightening, and always powerful and thrilling.

Titled after the Haitian Kreyòl word for mask, Maske is the first comprehensive collection of these portraits. The book features 107 photographs, organised into chapters by country, each introduced with an essay by Galembo including background details to the traditions featured along with details of her personal journey.

Yaie Masquerade, Bansie Village, Burkina Faso, 2006

The book is introduced by Chika Okeke-Agulu, himself a participant in masquerade events during his childhood in Nigeria, who asks questions about the survival and evolution of masquerade traditions in the 21st century.

Designed as an object to treasure, the book is a serious contribution to studies of African art, an essay about the transformative power of dress and a work of vivid artistic imagination.

Phyllis Galembo began photographing the characters and costumes of African masquerade in Nigeria in1985, developing her theme throughout Africa and the Carribean over the following 25 years since including with a Fulbright scholarship.

Her previous books include Divine Inspiration from Benin to Bahia (1993), Vodou: Visions and Voices of Haiti (1998) and Dressed for Thrills, 100 Years of Halloween Costumes and Masquerade (2003). She has been exhibited throughout the world, including in solo shows at the International Center of Photography, New York, and the Smithsonian, Washington DC.

Ewokom Masquerade, Eshinjok Village, Nigeria 2004

Galembo is represented by Steven Kasher Gallery, New York, and is Professor of Photography at the State University of New York. She lives in New York City. Chika Okeke-Agulu earned a Ph.D. in Art History from Emory University, Atlanta. He currently teaches Art History at Princeton University, and has written extensively on contemporary Nigerian art.

He has worked on a curator of exhibitions at the Whitechapel Art Gallery, the first Johannesburg Biennale in 1995and was an academic consultant for the Dokumenta 11 in Kassel. He was associate curator of The Short Century: Colonialism and Liberation Movements in Africa, 1945-1994, shown first in 2002 at the MuseumVilla Stuck, Munich, and later in Berlin, Chicago, and in New York.

Posted By: Diana Achieng

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