Glenna Stearman Park, American Masking

Glenna Stearman Park

After seven years of living in La Jolla, California, and attending graduate school at UCSD, my husband took a job at LTV (Ling Temco Vought)’s think tank, in the Dallas-Ft. Worth part of north Texas.  Specifically, LTV was in Grand Prairie, the arm pit of Texas.  The whole family was in shock, and immediately started another job hunt.  But during that time I became active in the Dallas art world. 

Walking to night time art openings in Dallas, I parked in well lit places and walked down the middle of streets, avoiding the bushes and dense plant life along the sidewalks.  The heavy breathing that I heard was my own as I was scared to be in the city alone.  I was desperate to be in the art community, but I had to go alone, because my husband stayed home to be with our young boys. 

Those scary nights made me address my fear, and I was most afraid of men wearing panty hose over their heads.  They were clear predators.  I also thought about the primitive societies and their use of masks and realized that our own “primitive” society also had masks.

Bison Dance of the Mandan Indians 

That first summer in Texas was bloody hot!  We joined a country club where the three boys could swim and play in the pool all morning, while I sat at the dining room window with coffee, looked over the pool and studied.  I took my reading and notebooks there, Monday through Friday, all morning.  I was searching anthropology and art historical references for masking that matched the masks used in the United States.  Panty hose, ski masks, Mud masks, KKK hoods, and wedding veils seemed to be the most obvious. 

Panty hose:  I read police reports at the Dallas city library for documentation of the use of panty hose, and realized that the masking was primarily used in crimes against women.  At the same time, I read about Plains Indians using buffalo horns and robes when hunting — dressing in an aspect of the prey’s body.  Suddenly, I understood the predator-prey primitive instinct when a man puts pantyhose on his head—Bingo!

Ski masks:  At the same library I read about bank robberies and crimes against businesses.  I learned that panty hose were not commonly used in these crimes, but ski masks were.  Also, some sports masks were used.  In other words, commercially-made masks seemed to have a predator-prey relationship to business robberies, like banks.  The Dallas library had Dallas police crime files where I could read and understand the differences in the predators and the prey.  So commercially made masks were used so the predator related to the industrial or corporate structure.   The purpose of camouflage in predators is to gain close proximity to prey and/or masking symbolically. 

Mud mask:  This one was funny.  I read about an African society where young girls were covered in a mud ceremony and then cleaned off as viable young females.  I laughed because I had a Max Factor mud mask that I put on my face, let dry, and then pealed off, hoping to have that taunt skin of a viable young woman.  Mud masks are widely marketed and used today.

KKK hood:  This mask was shocking and scary, because I thought the Ku Klux Klan was history.  Unfortunately, at that time, 1975, the Grand Dragon of the Klan was residing in Grand Prairie, Texas, and the local library was featuring books on Klan history, costume, and activities of the Klan. In my reading of African societies, I found one that masked in decayed materials representing the debris of dead bodies, and terrorized their society members who were not maintaining the status quo.  The group showed up at the offender’s hut at night time, in full costume, like a decaying corpse, and burned a stake in front of the hut, or even burned the hut to the ground.   Of course, our KKK shows up as ghosts burning crosses in the offenders yard, impressing  the value off the status quo.

The Poro Secret Society.  In many cases one secret society duty was to convince other members of the society to maintain the status quo.  The activity involved in putting a burning stake in front of the offender’s hut, and in some cases, burning the hut to the ground. 

African masks also serve as educational tools, as part of rituals to teach social and physical control or to settle disputes. All community members were required to attend Igbo masquerades in Nigeria, where the masked individuals would approach people and tell them the bad behavior in which they participated.  Dead ancestors are often the common subject for traditional masks, most often presenting a human skull sunken eyes and cracked dried skin.

Kate Middleton in her bridal veil. The all-white and veiled costume was established by Queen Victoria and spread from royal weddings to weddings around the world.

Bridal veil:  A number of societies cover the eyes of the dead immediately.  Many use white cloth to wrap a body and white veils on the bodies.  The traditional American wedding is related to symbolism of death.  The bride, dressed and veiled in white is led to the alter by her father, and presented for the property transference among men.  A presiding official ( women or men today) asks about the still veiled bride, “Who gives this woman?”  Then, “Who takes this woman?”  If she agrees to the transfer, by agreeing to honor and obey, the groom lifts her veil and she takes his name. The first person to stare into her eyes, in primitive tradition,  possesses the soul—as eyes are the windows of the soul.   

Fortunately, I did not wear white or a veil, and nobody owns my soul!  I had an early instinct that I would not obey, and the traditional ceremony was modified.  Yet, I have been married to the same man for 58 years.

RELATED WORK

Bridal walk with Sunday—San Antonio

Camouflage wedding dress—San Antonio 

Texas Bum steer award—Eva in camouflage wedding dress from Texas Monthly (at right)

Art History Lecture on Masking, University of Houston

Women’s Caucus for Art

See also Glenna Park, Marriage as a Primary Combat Training Unit