Campbell Gallery of Special Exhibits: Where Animals Dance

• Event Date: Thursday, September 14, 2006–Sunday, March 4, 2007
• Time: Regular Museum Hours (CDT)
• Location: Spurlock Museum, 600 S. Gregory St., Urbana, IL
• Cost: Free Admission

• Exhibit
• Exhibit-Related tag

Contemporary masquerading traditions of West Africa are the focus of this exhibit of masks and related ceremonial and ritual artifacts. Discussions focus on the place of masquerade in belief, social structure, and daily life. The ethnicities represented include Baga, Bamana, Bobo, Nuna, Toma, and Senufo. Artifacts include several from the Illinois State Museum’s Hoover Collection along with a select few chosen from the Spurlock Museum’s collections.

A featured artifact of this exhibit is the Baga Shoulder Mask (d'mba) of Guinea. The mask appears at harvest time and represents an abstract ideal of the female role in society as the universal mother. Moving gracefully through the town, accompanied by drummers and singers, the mother greets important visitors. During her performance, women touch her flattened breasts, evidence that she has suckled many children, and her swirling fiber skirt with the belief that they will be blessed with healthy children and productive fields.

Where Animals Dance is co-sponsored by the Spurlock Museum and the Illinois State Museum. The exhibit is supported in part by the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency.