Legends, Sorcerers and Enchanted Lizards: Door Locks of the Bamana of Mali.

The African Art Museum of the S.M.A. Fathers Tenafly, New Jersey October 14, 2001-March 15, 2002

When isolated in display cases, door locks of the Bamana peoples of Mali may not be the most exciting illustrations of African creativity. But if presented tastefully and interpretively, as they were in the exhibition at the African Art Museum of the S.M.A. Fathers, curated the museum's director, Robert Koenig, they become much more provocative not only as utilitarian but also as symbolic forms.

Bamana doors are structurally complex objects, mostly composed of wood planks joined together with iron pins to create solid screens against outside elements and partitions within homes, Together with their plank doors, the wood locks epitomize the characteristic complexity of African art: in their formal simplicity, most are invested with symbolic messages. Their imagery, both abstract and representational, can be deeply personal, alluding to the social positions and concerns of their owners.

Most, however, are focused on protecting the sanctity of the home. This concern perhaps explains the emphasis on some key motifs with protective implications: a handful of mythical beings, certain items of material culture, and numerous animals. Of the many apotropaic symbols presented in the exhibition, the most widespread is the distinctive bamada, a headgear identified as a symbol of the Komo, a religious institution with far-reaching influence in Bamana culture. The bamada's spiritual underpinnings are relevant to door lock imagery, for it is both an insignia of the messengers of the Creator God, Faro, and a symbol of the jaws of the crocodile, to which the Bamana ascribe potent sorcery-destroying powers.

Similarly, the animal images in doors and locks suggest multiple religious functions. The python, a symbol of Faro, also protects the owner against sorcery. Baboons, owls, and the water iguana play similar roles. Other creatures have mythic associations, such as the butterfly, an insignia of Faro's messengers. Diverse human representations are identified as notable ancestors and the heroes mentioned in Bamana legend. Depictions of other persons such as bards, who are identified by their open mouths, suggest that social status may also affect door lock symbolism. Spiritual defense, then, is probably only one of several messages of lock imagery.

The exhibition provided additional compelling insights into the function of locks. The Bamana obsession with household security takes yet another form in the cavities (sele din) made in the center of some locks, whose sole purpose is to hold protective nyama, or vital powers. The exhibition's articulation of this compositional element reveals the intricacy of the Bamana conception of doors as architectural fixtures.

The austerity of the display suggested that the African Art Museum of the S.M.A. Fathers never quite appreciated the broad interpretive potential of the doors; the exhibition's educational possibilities as a vehicle for understanding Bamana cosmology were not fully exploited. The show, it seems, was organized as an afterthought following the completion of the well-illustrated and informative catalogue by Pascal James Imperato, a well-respected scholar of Bamana art. This publication informed the rich text labels for objects in the show, which were predominantly from the author's collection. Not only did labels identify the locks' disparate geographical origins in Bamana country, but it also, in some cases, documented names of their artists. Such details, along with a wealth of other contextual data, from a meticulous field researcher like Imperato make a critical contribution to the field.

Yet, while the exhibition relied heavily on the catalogue for its interpretive label texts, it lacked the same clarity of presentation and meaningful categories. The identification numbers of the exhibited works seemed to correspond to those of the catalogue, but the arrangement was different. Thus, for instance, the objects numbered 18, 11, and 20 appeared in the same case. By allowing aesthetic criteria to dictate how to display objects, the exhibition suffered from significant gaps not only in sequencing but also in the story line. Its label texts sometimes seemed disjointed and confusing. These lapses rendered ineffective the folk narratives and ideas intended to explain the imagery.

More important, critical information that the visitor should have been provided at the beginning of this educational experience did not appear until much later. For example, there was no introduction to Mouso Koroni Koundye, a mythological figure with broad significance in the genesis of Bamana culture, who is credited with inventing scarification, hairstyling, and gender separation through circumcision. Adding to the confusion, one learned farther on that Mouso Koroni was also the wife of Pembele, who later became Pemba. Depending on the direction from which one approached the display, the name Faro also appeared without explanation. Accounts of these mythological characters greatly inform the interpretation of the lock symbolism and should have been foregrounded in an introductory label text.

The lack of this introduction was further complicated by the exhibition space. Though intimate, it presented a host of problems. The configuration is circular, with showcases arranged along two semicircular walls with an opening in the center. A fully assembled carved door, its lock in place, framed each continuous semicircular series of glass cases at either end. In between these end units were locks of various shapes, sizes, and aesthetic quality. This arrangement, obviously determined by the museum's floor plan, allowed the visitor to see the entire array of fine artworks. The disadvantage, however, was that it invited the visitor to enter the exhibition at any point. Without visual cues that placed the objects in meaningful categories of information, the viewer risked getting lost amid the display.

The problem with the labels was compounded by the lack of explanation for several terms, such as "Bamanaya" (no. 39). Some label texts were repeated with so little variation that it would have been better to group the works either thematically or formally. The only instance of such a grouping--which combined all the locks with avian imagery in one case--was certainly helpful. The texts should also have been simplified and excised of specialized terminology, as in the phrases "the introitus of the vulva are rows of parallel striations representing Pemba and his divinity" and "anteroposterior arching form."

Obvious stylistic affinities exist between Bamana door imagery and other Bamana representational forms--after all, the same artists are responsible for all these works. Instead of addressing this connection, however, the organizers opted to include several Dogon door locks along with a tiny photograph of a Dogon door lock in situ, further complicating the message of the exhibition. Elements of Dogon mythology were introduced in several labels (nos. 58, 59, 61), and a Dogon ladder was included in the display. These elements not only were intrusive but also suggested that the exhibition needed Dogon cosmology to validate Bamana door locks.

The organizers of the exhibition rightly noted that "specificity of meaning is lost when [door locks] are removed from the contexts of their creators and users." All the more reason then, for them to have included some contextual photographs and graphic illustrations of key motifs. The catalogue's fine photographs of Bamana houses showing some doors say a lot that the label texts missed.

Still, regardless of its minor flaws, this exhibition was worth the trip to Tenafly. It offered more in terms of interpretation than any previous exhibition on the subject: the multilayered interpretation of imagery long taken for granted made it invaluable. The African Art Museum of the S.M.A. Fathers again demonstrated foresight in focusing attention on a subject area once trivialized. It is a shame that an exposition of such profound and enormous educational ramifications was not designed to travel to a larger institution, Fortunately it comes with a well-written catalogue that I hope will see a wider distribution.

The catalogue, by Pascal James Imperato (100 pp., 141 b/w illustrations, map; $50 hardcover, $24.95 softcover), is published by Africana Publishing Company, New York (2001).

NII O. QUARCOOPOME is curator of African art and head of the Department of African, Oceanic and New World Cultures at the Detroit Institute of Arts.