Juxtapositions-Notes - Milwaukee Art Museum

inside and unseen, a full body mask. Structural buildings are also a part of his innovation, and the "Store
Front" tells us that it is night since the display window is empty, closed off from the store, and the
darkened doorway where the woman stands surrounds her protectively so that you can't approach her
from the back or sides but only directly from the front.
That brings us to the gaze. Haven't you ever thought of ripping off that plaster to find out who belongs
to those piercing cold eyes that stare directly at you from the "Store Front" The eyes are the first thing
people notice and the first thing they want to talk about when they see her. They are almost like
weapons that make people want to back away. While the Yoruba tribe gathers around a night time fire
awaiting a ritual ceremony, the world of the "Store Front" and its urban tribal community have much
scarier rituals, and I'm sure all of the women here keenly understand the danger of standing alone in a
darkened doorway. The gaze is small protection.
On the other hand, it is said that the Nigerian mask or adenla originally had more strands of beads that
hung over the face in order to protect the tribal audience from the powerful gaze of the ruler. Not only
did he wear the supernatural powers of women and the watchful face of his royal ancestors but he may
also have had some mind-enhancing drugs in this mask! Imagine how invincible that would make him
feel as he came before his people. His mask was not for the purpose of hiding his identity but for
establishing a heightened identity, adding powers no other human could have. This strong, muscular
warrior king faces his tribe as they wait in the darkness lit by a crackling fire. Perhaps there are
drumbeats, chants, dance accompanying the ceremony, and everyone understands and recognizes the
meaning and purpose of this event. They are unified in their homage to the warrior king.
"The Store Front" always reminds me of the mother of a high school friend of mine. My friend's name is
Gloria too and we are only a day apart in age, but that is where similarities end. I always remember her
mother at the door when I'd stop there after school. She wore a house dress, an apron, and sturdy
sensible shoes, and she had thinning mousy brown hair but a very placid face. Gloria told me that her
parents never argued or raised their voices, so I thought they were a perfect family and that she lived on
the set of "Father Knows Best" or something. Her mom didn't drive, and when we turned 16, she sat
down with her daughter and said to her "I have spent my whole life waiting". Waiting for her husband
to come home so that she could serve dinner, waiting until he could find time to take her to the store or
run errands, occasionally finding friends who offered to take her places or waiting for a bus. She was
always on someone else's schedule. when I heard that, I thought that I had been given the chance to
peer behind her mask for a moment . When I see the folded arms of this woman, it is almost a snapshot
of a time frozen in the 50's and 60's when the passive role of so many mothers I met was the norm. And
then along came the third Gloria, Gloria Steinem, and feminism started to make war with that norm. Of
course, it was too late and too radical for Gloria's mom to consider turning her comfortable and
unobtrusive world upside down. But the "Store Front" captures something of that era.
Although these two selections have in common a mask, a solitary figure set in darkness, and a powerful
gaze, the differences are profound: male vs. female
powerful vs. vulnerable
active vs. static
tribal vs. urban
community vs. disunity
tradition vs. innovation
And the list goes on. For me, the wildly different expressions of this powerful symbol, the mask, drew
me in.