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Paper short abstract:

As a contemporary artist, this paper details my ethical and collaborative approach between myself and Cameroonian communities that make and use local masquerades to produce global, traveling ensembles for museum and global contemporary art scene.

Paper long abstract:

My paper details my ethical and collaborative approach in working with traditional practitioners of different masquerade production, including carvers, beaders, coiffure and costume makers. My approach helps to sustain these professionals and perpetuate their skills, while our collaboration offers new models of creativity between old and new forms and ideas. While I develop the conceptual work, the physical ensembles are produced collaboratively. Such a mode of production links the ensembles to their originating communities. Further, the ensembles are integrated into the community through local performance, supervised by the appropriate society leaders. To achieve this integration, the ensembles must satisfy the rules and requirements of the dance societies. After authorization has been satisfied—which also impart meaning, power, and spirituality to the ensembles—the ensembles are activated through ritual. At this stage, the ensemble achieved their ceremonial roles within the community. I as the artist then make an unusual step: I change the function of the ensemble to take on an ambassadorial function, whereby it travels to distant communities and even foreign countries to visit or to take up residence—such as in a museum—and engage foreign audiences interested in viewing “African art.” My work thus engages new owners of the ensemble, who often agree to allow it to return to visit its community of origin to perform again there. The ensemble thus becomes like a traveling actor. My process forges relationships and communication between distant communities, forging a new ethical network with African masquerade ensembles.