Object of Choice: Solomon Islands Mask
Published by Colleen Rosen
For this assignment, I’ve selected a Mask from the Solomon Islands made for the Museum of Anthropology by Frank Haiku in 1991 (1). Frank Haiku is a Solomon Island local who came to MOA on a fellowship to work with art among First Nations. During this time, he constructed the mask, incorporating many details and attributes of Solomon Island art into his work. Immediately after I came across the mask, I knew I wanted to base this project around it. While walking through MOA there are no doubt thousands of beautiful items on display. Between the ‘secret’ drawers at the base of most showcases, the showcases themselves, and the installations throughout the halls. But while walking through the MOA this time, I found myself in awe of this mask.
At first look, I noticed a lot of things. Firstly, the mask is very big – at least compared to other masks I’ve seen. The top starts with a large decorated headdress with a comb-looking object projecting out of it and underneath there is a circular disk made of turtle shell. There is a row of eight white shells along the forehead. The carvings of the face look life-like due to white shell fragments being placed around the pupils. Placed between the nose is a large white object with a smaller circular metal ornament handing below it. Symmetrical ears hang alongside the face with ‘spacer’ earrings made from shell. Below the chin hangs a bead necklace that carries a woven basket. If someone were to actually wear this, the bottom would probably reach mid-chest considering the overall diameters measuring 74 cm long by 51cm wide (1), which I’d also imagine makes it very heavy. Secondly, being made of wood, it has an incredibly rich colour to it that has darker tones marbling throughout. The finish is smooth like it was stained with wood paint. A majority of what’s seen is wood, however, the contrast between the white shells and brown wood is captivating, tied in with the pops of colour from the beaded necklace and woven basket, it was easy to look at and read about for an hour.
Aesthetics are no doubt pleasing to the eye however, reading further into the specific materials used for this mask gave me a deeper appreciation for it. For example, MOA CAT provides that the shells found on this mask came from a variety of species such as clam, turtles, snails, oysters, and nautilus! (1) Having such a variety of shells used, among other materials found on the mask, shows a significance to the item. Why gather different types of shells, put in so much thought and time into something insignificant? To be able to see and appreciate the thought and effort that goes into making an item like this adds to the appreciation.
The context of the display it’s in also adds to the aesthetic appeal or interest. For example, the items sharing a case with the mask are much smaller in comparison. The mask kind of takes away the show in this case, which no doubt draw attention to it. Perhaps if it was hung besides five other incredibly beautiful masks, I wouldn’t have chosen this one. Instead, the case is full of smaller ornaments found in the Solomon Islands such as necklaces, a Barava, containers and a comb where the (immediate) attention is drawn to the large hanging mask.
The area the mask was found in generally contains other objects found from the Solomon Islands. Underneath the case it’s hung in I found a drawer of combs commonly traded among the Solomon Islands. In the drawer, there is a note with a bit of history about the combs, and after reading it I noticed perhaps the item projecting from the headdress is maybe a comb!
Biography of the item
The Solomon Islands is made up of 6 major islands, totalling up to 992 with the smaller family islands. Since the Solomon Islands consists of a lot is dispersed space, art throughout the Islands tend to vary in style, materials and techniques used, aesthetic and cultural significance. While masks are not particularly common objects found among the Islands, the islands of Roviana and Marovo are said to have the highest production of art throughout. (2) Art within the islands can generally be characterized by the repeated use of shells (particularly white), whether it be on masks or other objects. Traditionally these objects were used to signify status but were also used during ritual practices such as funerals. Pendants like the one you see on this mask generally signified high status as they were made from precious materials like turtle or clamshells. (3)
Unfortunately, as I learned, masks weren’t commonly made throughout the Solomon Islands, and if they were, they only came from the most Northernmost Islands such as Nissan, Buka and Bougainville. (4) This makes masks from the Solomon Islands very rare, which limits the knowledge we have on them. Fortunately, the MET obtained a mask found in Bougainville that was made sometime between the late nineteenth and early twentieth century which resembles an ‘evil spirit’. (4) It’s said that masks containing weapons or like-objects represent Kokorra, an evil spirit. This supports the claim that these masks were generally used for ceremonial rituals.
Bibliography
2. Caglayan, Emily. “The Solomon Islands.” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000 https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/solo/hd_solo.htm
3. New Guinea Tribal Arts. “Solomon Island Arts.” Published December 12, 2018.
https://www.new-guinea-tribal-arts.com/solomon-island-art/
South Planet. “Frank Haiku”. Accessed Nov 18, 2019. http://www.spla.pro/file.person.frank-haiku.34290.html
4. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. “Mask: Late 19th–Early 20th Century.” Accessed November 18, 2019.
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/311651
1. The Museum of Anthropology. "Collection Online: MOA at UBC." Accessed Nov 18, 2019
http://collection-online.moa.ubc.ca/search/item?keywords=mask&place_made[0]=62307&yearstart=&yearend=&row=0&tab=more.