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It was a remarkable display of cooperation—representatives of church and state facilitating an artistic expression based on a Congolese religious tradition, created by a woman of Caribbean descent, with assistance from members of diverse New York communities.The Ndunga is a Congolese ceremonial mask worn at ceremonies to “warn a community of the transgressions that it is committing.”On Monday, September 21, 2009,Sandra A.M. Bell unveiled the Ndunga she has been creating over the past three months at The Riverside Church.The large metal mask was mounted on a hollow structure bristling with a coat of nappy, dried banana leaves.
As the structure was readied, a crowd gathered including traditional drummers, religious leaders, local officials and members of the public.People had been asked to dress in red, white, and black.There were children with staffs and a flag whirling carnival dancer to lead the procession.A police escort arrived, and the assembled then ceremonially marched the large, portable sculpture down 125th St to the Adam Clayton Powell Jr., State Office Building, where a special stand awaited it.
Amid drums, ululations, a stilt walker, and the clicking of many cameras, the Ndunga was then lauded by a scholar and practitioner of Bantu-Kongo religion, Dr. Fu-Kiau Bunseki.Others spoke as well, with considerable emotion.Everyone present understood that this was no mere multi-cultural, feel-good celebration.Words spoken on the occasion evoked the history of slavery, the struggle for equality of black people around the world, and crucially, the crisis of rape in the ongoing Congo civil war, a “transgression” that was central to Bell’s inspiration.
Sandra A.M. Bell is an acclaimed carnival costume designer from the renowned Morris family of Trinidad and Tobago.She once created an Ndunga mask on commission from the Museum of African Art, and was amazed by the calming, reflective effect the piece had on people who saw it.That stayed with her, and she decided to create an even grander Ndunga for the occasion of the International Day of Peace.New of th brutalizing of Congolese women as a means of warfare was the catalyst.This is a situation so deeply tragic and disturbing, and yet one that a person feels quite powerless to affect.Bell saw something she could do, and she tirelessly rallied support to make it happen.
So it was that on this clear, sunny, fall day, as the leaders of the world gathered at the UN to strike poses and lecture one another, Bell led this mysterious and beautiful procession through the streets of Harlem, led by a police escort, and flocked by onlookers asking, “What is that?”They were surprised and intrigued at what they heard.Here are a few images of this extraordinary, quintessentially New York event.
