Gifts and Blessings: the Textile Arts of Madagascar.

National Museum of African Art Smithsonian Institution Washington, D.C. April 14-September 2, 2002

Compared with the island's unique flora and fauna, the arts and cultures of Madagascar have largely been overlooked. When they are mentioned, they tend not to be included in the broader discussions about Africa. Thankfully, this situation is beginning to change. For example, in 1986 John Mack of the Museum of Mankind curated the seminal exhibition "Madagascar: Island of the Ancestors" (with companion catalogue, London, 1986), which brought the island's arts and cultures to the public's attention. In 1998 1 curated "Once Is Never Enough: Textiles, Ancestors, and Reburials in Highland Madagascar" for the Indiana University Art Museum (also with a catalogue, Bloomington, 1998). A forthcoming edited volume on the extensive Malagasy textile holdings at Chicago's Field Museum, to be published by the UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History; was previewed by an exhibition last spring at the Fowler Museum ("Wild Silk, Island Fibers: Rare Textiles from Madagascar"). Most recently, the National Museum of African Art firmly positioned Madagascar within the dialogue of African arts and culture with its exhibition "Gifts and Blessings: The Textile Arts of Madagascar," co-curated by Sarah Fee and Christine Mullen Kreamer

The exhibition was divided into six sections, beginning with a general introduction to the textiles. Tire other sections were dedicated to the historical role of cloth as political gift, with a particular focus on the relationship between highland Malagasy royalty and the United States government; contemporary textiles; related hands-on activities for visitors; contemporary clothing; and, finally, funerary textiles. The rooms, painted in light colors (sky blues, lavender, peach) to highlight the cloth, were full but not overcrowded. Additional objects, images, postcards, and historical pieces interspersed among the textiles provided a balance of two- and three-dimensional objects that held the viewer's interest. The large didactic labels and text panels, photographs, and photomurals greatly increased one's understanding of the contexts of the objects on display.

The show opened with the introductory panel "Gift of Cloth" in the Sylvia H. Williams Gallery and a beautiful burial shroud (lambamena) of indigenous silk and metal beadwork. One wall displayed barkcloth, raffia clothing, a photo box of sixteen historical postcards (Fig. 1), and texts that invited viewers to look closely and think carefully about the textiles and images. A case along the back wall held five large cloths and two long, narrow loincloths. Although most of the textiles were easily identifiable, numbering them would have helped connect them to their texts. A large three-dimensional ikat mosquito tent dominated the center of the room, and a case along the far wall held various raw materials, including cocoons and mulberry silk (spun and unspun, cultivated and uncultivated)-a nice addition, although specific materials were not clearly labeled.

The second room, "Objects as Envoys and Royal Gifts," clearly demonstrated the value of textiles as important political gifts and established a visible link between Madagascar and Washington, D.C., with the display of gifts and letters passed between U.S. presidents and Merina royalty in the nineteenth century. Gifts included a Singer sewing machine, a photo album of the United States, a Smith and Wesson gun, and a pen and pencil set presented to Queen Rasoherina and Prime Minister Rainilaiarivoy in 1867. In 1886 Queen Ranavalona Ill sent two large textiles, a small bone pin, and a lidded fiber basket to President Graver Cleveland to commemorate his election. Photographs of the President, Queen Ranavalona III, Prime Minister Rainilaiarivoy, and John Waller, the first African American consul to Madagascar (1891-I894), were augmented with documents pertaining to their political alliances: letters, a copy of an 1867 treaty of friendship, credentials of the first Malagasy mission to the U.S., and ledgers describing the mulberry-silk nineteenth-century textiles with brilliantly colored weft-float designs given to President Cleveland and later donated to the Smithsonian.

The third room, not identified by a label, addressed contemporary textiles. It included a traditional cloth from the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem as a foil for contemporary shoulder wraps and photographs of cloth in use, as well as photographs of and textiles by two contemporary sources, Malagasy fiber artist Zoarinivo Razakaratrimo (called Zo) and Lamba SARL, an organization established by the Englishman Simon Peers to create textiles for export based upon nineteenth-century Merina cloth. Zo, who has shown nationally and internationally, makes wall hangings that incorporate natural materials such as leaves, cinnamon and other bark, and silk cocoons as well as found objects including phone cards, condom packages, power plugs, clothes pins, plastic spiral bindings, mirrors, safety pins, ear phones, and computer chips. The exhibition showed three of her works. Adaladalana (Craziness) is a large piece divided into four asymmetrical quadrants that engage one's tactile and olfactory senses with its combination of organic and fabricated materials (Fig. 2).

One reservation I had about the exhibition, particularly in light of tire discipline's struggle to have African art accepted as "art" and housed in art museums, involves the reproductions by Lamba SARL of older textiles. The four large examples are beautiful in their jewel-like colors and sophisticated in their supplemental float designs, and it would have been informative to see one of them in the contemporary section. I am concerned, however, that displaying four such cloths, all relatively similar, put too great an emphasis on replicas, particularly because originals do exist, as demonstrated by some beautiful examples that were included to great effect in this show. a fine arts museum would never consider exhibiting a copy of a Rembrandt. What does the inclusion of these reproductions say about the perception and understanding of this genre of art, of the older artworks and the artists who created them, and, ultimately, of the definition of "art"? Does it mean we are moving away from the art-museum ideal, with its emphasis on creativity and originality, and toward the ethnographic display, where using replicas and copies to convey information is more accepted?

Separated from the contemporary section by a glass door, the activity room provided opportunities for viewers to become more directly involved. One could select from nine songs by the pop groups Mily Clement, Tarika, and Jaojoby. Visitors were also invited to handle and don clothes like those that were so tempting to touch in the galleries. This activity would have been even more informative if each article had been labeled as to material and ethnic origin. A nearby case, however, held additional raw materials so visitors could connect them with the clothes they were handling.

The far wall was covered with questions about Madagascar. One could select responses from wooden doors, behind which were answers, photographs, and additional information. Under "What do you know of Madagascar?" were questions about geography; livelihoods, and animals. "What have you learned of the role of cloth in Madagascar?" prompted questions concerning the who, what, where, and why of weaving. In a section devoted to the Malagasy language, one could listen to eight common phrases (e.g., "hello," "goodbye," "what's new?," "thank you"). However, by failing to note that all the phrases were in Merina, one of the island's eighteen officially recognized ethnic groups, the curators missed an opportunity to emphasize the island's ethnic and cultural diversity. A final area in this room was a reading corner supplied with some of the relevant resources.

Returning to the exhibition gallery through a second entrance, one was welcomed by a second introductory panel, "Gift of Cloth." It included a photograph of traditional cloth being used in a contemporary wedding (Fig. 5), examples of contemporary clothing (including scarves, shawls, a tie, and a vest), and more traditional clothing (loincloths and large wraps). The final section, "Silks Wrap Dead," included a video of selected Malagasy funerary practices. The Tandroy, an ethnic group among whom co-curator Fee has spent many years of research, use shrouds in a particular manner. Rather than wrapping the dead directly, Tandroy fold shrouds lengthwise to create long strips that are then "woven" together to cover the deceased's coffin, as demonstrated by a large photomural as well as an actual example of a wrapped coffin. A video excerpt of a Betsileo reburial taken by this reviewer showed how ancestors are removed from their tombs and honored, cared for, and danced with before being reinterred. The exhibition ended with a map of Madagascar that illustrated ethnic groups and fiber traditions. Small maps of the island interspersed throughout the exhibition would have been a helpful addition as well.

The museum organized educational programs that underscored its mission to interact with the community. On the weekend I visited, I had the pleasure of attending a performance by an impressive group of local Malagasy musicians called Ody Gasy, which can be translated as "Malagasy charm" or ' "power object." The band, formed specifically for "Gifts and Blessings," was a nice way to bring local Malagasy into the museum and to give them some ownership of the exhibition. Alternating with the music every half hour were folktale sessions.

Meanwhile, in the activity room, adult educators helped visitors handle hissing cock roaches and silkworm cocoons. While the cockroaches may not have had a direct connection with textiles or clothing traditions in Madagascar, they were a fascinating draw, particularly for the younger visitors. Overall, the Family Day seemed a success; (in the day I attended, more than sixty visitors participated in the activities or attended the performance in the gallery.

Ultimately, despite my abovementioned minor criticisms, I truly enjoyed this show. As one of an increasing number of exhibitions, books, and articles aimed at bringing Madagascar into the dialogue of African studies, "Gifts and Blessings" was a great success.

The exhibition was accompanied by an interactive Web site (www.si.edu/nmafa) and a catalogue, Objects as Envoys: Cloth, Imagery, and Diplomacy in Madagascar, edited by Kreamer and Fee (reviewed on p. 8).

Rebecca L. Green is an associate professor and chair of art history at Bowling Green State University, and was recently the secretary-treasurer of the Arts Council of the African Studies Association. She has been conducting fieldwork in Madagascar since 1990 on textiles, funerary practices, divination arts, ancestral and contemporary arts, and the construction of identity through art.