Fowler inherits African ‘Crowning Achievements’

Fowler inherits African ‘Crowning Achievements’

Latest museum exhibit highlights traditional, contemporary
headgear

By Barbara E. Hernandez

Daily Bruin Staff

As the first group entered the museum, there was a slight hush
as it took in the solitude and the lit objects. One, a chief’s hat,
or botolo from Zaire, towers at least 2 1/2 feet in the air with
what looks like brass symbols. "Imagine what it feels like on your
head," says Mary Jo Arnoldi, curator of African ethnology at the
Smithsonian.

Unlike Western society, where the hat has lost many ritual or
symbolic components, hats in other cultures are not merely
functional, but they give a person an identity and a sense of
community.

"A hat gives people a sense of importance," says Arnoldi, "and
lets everyone know it."

"Crowning Achievements: African Arts of Dressing the Head," now
showing at the Fowler Museum of Cultural History, features a
collection of hats and headdresses from Africa as well as their
contemporary influenced styles like Rastafarian wig hats and
streetwear.

The first part of the show consists of 12 hats from various
regions, one of which is the botolo from Zaire, seemingly
dominating whatever space it’s in. Each hat reflects the culture
and the society of its region.

A Namibian woman’s hat with a leather veil unrolled only for
marriage or her widowhood, evokes images of cattle, a valued
commodity in the region.

"They are not saying women are cattle. Cattle are life, and they
are saying women are life, and as valuable," Arnoldi says. "It’s a
difficult concept for our culture to understand."

Other cultures also influence some of the hat designs. The
Kalahari Ijo chief hats incorporate ostrich feathers, mirrors,
plastic rockets, Christmas ornaments and spangles picked up from
trading. "The Kalahari are great traders," says Arnoldi, "and
Western objects are not a problem."

The 18th-century Ethiopian priest’s crown draws attention to the
Christian influence in Ethiopia. In the fourth century A.D.,
Ethiopia became the Abyssinian Christian Kingdom, with priests and
other high-ranking clergy wearing crowns in rituals and
ceremonies.

The crown is unlike others because it is uniquely cast in silver
"It’s very unusual," says Arnoldi. "It wasn’t until the advent of
the Marie Therese thalar, which was so fully silver that it was
often melted down to make jewelry or ornaments."

Arnoldi, who lives in Africa, quickly adds that most of the art
found in Africa now is freely given, bartered or bought. "The
priest’s crown," she says, "was given to the first American
Ambassador to Ethiopia. (To obtain the art) is not necessarily
about raping another culture."

The exhibit shows how hat styles can cross cultures with the
African influenced contemporary head wear. A tightly braided wig
seems to stand out among the Jamaican and American styles.

"It’s called the Peter Tosh hat," says Christine Mullen Kreamer,
a visiting curator at the Museum of Natural History, referring to
the reggae artist. "It was made after Peter Tosh toured Africa, in
a way to celebrate him and his hair, something people had never
seen before."

"Crowning Achievements" also delves into the ancient, and often
Islamic art of head wrapping, concentrating on the nomadic Tuareg,
where head wrapping exists more for social reserve than Islamic
codes.

For the Tuareg, the women have an elaborate head wrapping that
signifies to the society and her husband that she owns the tent.
Unlike other members of Islamic society, the Tuareg men wear veils
instead of the women.

For the Yoruba of Nigeria, head wrapping for women offers a
sense of decorum. Often, since hair is unseen in public, women
attend professional head wrappers to have an elaborate style.

EXHIBIT:"Crowning Achievements: African Arts of Dressing the
Head." Now showing at the Fowler Museum of Cultural History through
July 16. Admission is free. For more info call (310) 825-4361.