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Mua
Mission, is about an hour and half by car from
Club Makokola. The road is partly tarred and its conditions depend
on the time of the year and what maintenance has been carried out,
it crosses the alluvial plains around the western gulf of the lake.
The mission is located at the foothills of the Dedza range that
delimit the Rift Valley. The Catholic White Fathers founded it in
1903. It was not the first catholic mission in the Country, but it
is the oldest surviving one. The White Fathers at Mponda founded the
first mission in 1889.
The scenery along the road is typical of the alluvial Rift
Valley, during the rainy season most of it turns into a marsh. The
conditions of the road deteriorate but the beautiful bird life that
comes to feed on the frogs and fish more than make up for the bumpy
ride. During the dry season herds of cattle feed on the grass,
cotton is grown during the harvest you can see it been sorted and
sold at the various villages the roads traverses. On the side of the
road the woman sell local delicacies, the most sort after being the
smoked field mice popular during the dry season.
The
Mission building
At the mission the old buildings erected by the first missionaries
are still standing. They are probably the best-conserved colonial
buildings in the country. Different to most colonial buildings in
this country they are more of the French Provencal style than the
typical British colonial one, as the first fathers were from France.
The attraction of Mua is not just the buildings but its
Kungoni Art Craft Centre and its Chamare Museum. Fr. Claude Boucher,
a Canadian White Father, founded them during his studies of the
traditions and mythologies of the local people to better explain to
them the teachings of Christianity. During his work amongst the
people he recognised the richness of Malawian oral tradition and the
danger it was in of been completely erased by western influence. He
has now dedicated his life to recoding and preserving a rich culture
that till recently had been passed down only orally.
Carver at work
He first founded an artistic school to encourage local
talent to express themselves through the traditional media of
woodcarving and to experiment with painting. With time he managed to
earn the complete trust of the people. He is amongst the very few
white men to have been initiated in the secret ritual societies of
the Chewa, the Guru Wan Kulu. During the course of his work
he has managed to collect over 1,500 masks used in Guru Wan Kulu
ritual. These masks are not the more common wooden ones that are
offered to the visitors for sale, but ones that represent characters
and transmit messages understood only by the members of the secret
societies. Each mask has a specific meaning with a specific
lifespan. It will ether die with its creator or when the character
it portrays is non-longer a matter of concern, each one is unique.
Most of these can be seen in the museum.
At Mua it is also possible to buy some of the best carvings
in Malawi. Each object is hand made and represents some aspect of
Malawian life, they vary in size and budget to suit all pockets and
can be transported very easily. Work from the Kungoni Centre can now
be found all over the worlds. Some has recently been put on show in
the Vatican Museum as well as in Munich and in many private
collections in Europe and the USA.
On arrival at the mission ones attention is first captured
by the Museum, located in a complex composed of three round
buildings representing traditional huts. In the first room there is
an exhibition explaining the history of missionaries in Africa, this
is accompanied by symbols of the local mythology. In the second room
you can see part of the vast collection of masks from the Guru
Wan Kulu society. Visitors are asked not to photograph them, as
this would contravene Society rules. Along the walls of this room a
photographic exhibition shows the major passages of Chewa life
starting with birth and going though initiations, marriage ending
with death and burial practices, a very important aspect of Malawian
life. The Chewa is the dominant tribe of Malawi. Understanding the
meaning of these passages through life will help understand the
working of the Malawian mind, an essential element if one is to
leave Malawi with a small understanding of the country. In the third
room an exhibition of sculptors and photos will explain the passage
of life of the other two main tribal groups of the country, the
Ngoni and the Yao. Connecting the three rooms are small passages
where Iron Age artefacts and rock paintings are on show. The rock
paintings are fascinating and contrary to most beliefs some are very
recent!
Mural on the outside of the Museum
On the out side of the building we find a series of panels
each portaging an event in Malawian history starting with the
creation of the world according to Chewa folklore to the foundation
of Mua Mission. The value of the muse is obviously more then the
intrinsic value of its collections, for the first time an attempt
was carried out to explain to the local population the value of its
past and to illustrate the intricacy and richness of Malawi
tradition to the foreign visitor.
At the end of the visit to the museum it is possible to
visit the old mission building, still being used for its original
function and to admire the murals in the church. A picnic lunch is
had in the well-kept ground of the mission before a visit to the
shop to buy a memento of the visit or simply to look around.
Mission grounds.
Malawian Children
Main Mission House with the second floor added in 1913
The Mission House seen from the side
wig, the Church is in the background
Carver at work
The
Carving School
The Chamare Museum
The Garden with the suspension Bridge
Arial View of the mission garden
The steam just under the mission
The
Chamare Museum at Mu Mission
By Fr. Claude Boucher Chisale WF
The Name.
The name chosen for the museum complex
is a tribute to the labour of the workers of the first hour, the
first generation of missionaries whose task was to plant the Mua mission,
sometime in very difficult conditions. Many names are recalled in the
memory of the people of this region but the name Chamare stands out
particularly. Fr. Jean-Baptiste Champamartin, nicknamed Chamare, is seen
as the foundation stone of Mua and the force, which empowered the mission
to rise to what it is today. This is precisely what the spiral on which
his name is inscribed suggests.
The Man.
Fr. Chapamrtin was a White father born
in France on 7th September 1879, who for most of his missionary
career worked at Mua (from 1906 to 1949) and died at Kasina Mission, near
Lintipe on 3rd August 1950. A thin, pale man with a thundering
voice, he spoke fluent Chichewa, and produced a colloquial translation of
the gospels which, together with his homilies, held congregations
spellbound. He had a warm love and deep respect for the villagers and
easily won their esteem and confidence. He had a special gift in dealing
with the elders and the chiefs, and behaved and was treated like one. He
was an extremely generous and genuine person, ever close to people, even
to lepers. He was once criticised by his own superiors for allowing lepers
to come into the mission house with their belongings. He shared whatever
he owned.
Fr. Champmartin was a man of many
talents. An excellent writer, we can appreciate his sense of humour, and
of details as well as his wit, when we read the mission diaries that he
wrote for more than 20 years. Both, a skilled carpenter and builder, he
was the instigator of the school of carpentry and the Mua shop. He was
also a driving force behind the construction of the dam and the
installation of the hydro plant, which is still in operation today. The
Mua mahogany forest and many other giant trees on the premises owe their
presence to him. Moreover, the people and especially the Ngoni, remember
him as an expert in litigation. He felt perfectly at ease with all the
complexities of the African law. He was an indefatigable supervisor of
village school and churches that he visited regularly. He was equally
eager to take part in the training of bush schoolteachers. When Edel Quinn
appeared in Africa with her Legio Maria in 1940, he saw he movement as an
ideal way of influencing the daily life of the villagers.
Chamare’s Link to the museum comes
from his openness, his common sense and his ability to appreciate the
Malawian as she/he is. He was known for his attitude of listening, for his
receptivity in meeting people. Though he was the product of his time and
culture, he was nevertheless able to marvel and enjoy their company. That
is why he could learn their language to perfection, litigate with their
own law and appreciate the wisdom they taught. It is precisely in this
spirit that the Mua Mission invites you to visit its Chamare Museum.
The Architecture of the Building
The last mural unfolding our local
history portrays the arrival of Frs. Louveau, Perrot and Bro. Wilfrid at
Mua and the pitching of their tents around the baobab tree. Elderly people
around the mission still remember this tree which is gone now. They say it
was in the vicinity of the site where the museum is constructed. The
architecture intends to recall this event. The museum complex represents
those tents around the baobab. First of all, the museum wants to be a
tribute of thanks to those three pioneers and to those who followed them.
Furthermore, it wants to recognise all the people who have come to settle
in the area and who have made its culture so rich and so varied. Like the
fathers who have planted their tents around the tree, these groups coming
from different directions, each one with its own personality and culture,
have settled in this very region. Our local history on the murals allows
us to discover them. The first group to join the Akafula (Bushmen) around
1,000AD, the earliest owners of the land, were the Chewa (Banda-Phiri).
Later on, around 1850’s, the Yao and the Ngoni settled among them. The
missionaries were the last in 1902 to pitch their tents in their midst.
The museum wants to dedicate to each one of these groups a tent of its own
in which their contributions will be discussed. It is from their mutual
inter-action that the cultural heritage we enjoy today was born. The
Mission, as the last arrival, invites you to enter into this wealth and
wisdom.
The Baobab.
This tree, for Malawians, is sacred!
It is the centre of village life. Symbolising communion and community, it
is the seat of the ancestral spirits and the way that leads to the Supreme
Being himself. All the main rituals that punctuate the life of the
community take place under a tree. This is where the villagers enter into
communion with the presence above at the period of drought in order to beg
for rain and life, or at the time of harvest in order to offer
thanksgiving; where the teenagers leave behind their childhood and receive
maturity; where a mother-to-be is instructed into the facts of life at the
time of her first pregnancy. It is also where a chief and an elder are
enthroned as leaders of the community, and where a persons that has died
takes leave of the relatives before departing to the sacred grove to be
received by the ancestral spirits.
It is also there, under the shade of
the tree, that the community renews its faith in each other. They gather
to listen to the advice of the ancestors through their Gule Wamkulu.
There, they share wisdom and insight. They resolve their misunderstandings
and differences. There they share food and drink, and pass on trades and
skills. Accordingly, the tree appears as a powerful symbol of
reconciliation, tolerance, growth, continuity, exchange, sharing and
dialogue at its highest level. In this light, the tree at the centre of
the three museum buildings takes on a profound meaning that will be
spelled out in the Museum’s objectives.
The Chamare Museum aims at:
·
Exposing the Malawians to their own heritage and fostering
in their heart a genuine sense of
the respect and pride for their own culture.
·
Assisting them in
preserving and developing their own cultural expression. The
mission tent and the open-air theatre provide opportunities for the
different village communities to cultivate and stimulate their creativity
in this field.
·
Equipping the people with the knowledge and understanding of their own
richness, not as something old-fashioned, belonging to the past, but as a
living spirit which enables them to make a choice with regard to what is
considered genuine and integral development to be. With this knowledge,
they will appreciate beyond the rituals and the cultural forms, the very
values that make them. How can the same values that have modelled their
ancestors continue today to transform him and prepare him for the future?
·
Beside the two rooms that deal with Chewa-Angoni-Yao
material, the museum provides facilities for projections that ensure such
exposure enabling them to share their cultural wealth with others,
not out of pride but out of a deep conviction that is what is meaningful
for them, is also worth sharing. Many visitors and collaborators in
different fields of development encounter Malawians every year. They
notice the Malawian’s peacefulness, genteelness and politeness: and they
wonder about the secret. Why are they always joyful and kind? Do they not
have problems sometimes? Let the Malawian tell them why. Let him explain
who he is and what made him thus! The museum will whisper the answer with
him!
·
Above all, the Museum aims at building up unity among the people: in bridging the
different tribal backgrounds (Chewa, Ngoni and Yao) as a positive
contribution towards a common growth and the setting up as a national
heritage. Each culture found its own way of dealing with the human
experience and responded to it in a variety of patterns proper to each
group. A genuine encounter with Achewa, Angoni, Ayao can provide a means
of moving beyond tribal boundaries and one’s own feeling of superiority
and open ones heart to a real person rich in talents and wisdom. The
museum wants to contribute to the cause of unity in overcoming the
separation between towns and villages, between the different educational
systems (western education and traditional teaching) by discovering
one’s own roots and building up a strong sense of belonging.
·
Ultimately the museum hopes to gather people of different religious allegiances (Christians,
Muslims and those who practise traditional religion). The conference hall
can provide a forum for the discussion and contribute to an inter-faith
dialogue, breaking down prejudices, pride and intolerance, allowing them
to sit together around the tree to exchange and learn from each other.
Moreover, it’s only through the discovery of one’s own roots and
values and through living them that one can be true to oneself and serve
meaningfully his own religious affiliation. In this regard, the museum
voices a further wish that of being a positive contribution to the work of
the Malawi church towards enculturation of the Christian message. This
echoes the voice of the African Synod of 1994: “The traditional
religions have much to teach us in our efforts to enculturate the
Christian faith”. The museum therefore invites you to reflect on how God
Himself has been preparing Malawi to welcome the gospel values through
inspiring its own.
Dr. Champion, a traditional Zinganga or healer at the Mangochi
market
The KuNgoni Art Craft Centre: History, Persons, Work
Extract from: African Theology in Images by Martin Ott,
published by Kachere Series.
The KuNgoni Art Centre in Mua, Malawi
must certainly be regarded as one of the most outstanding art craft centers
in Africa. For several reasons it has become one of the most
important producers of Christian art in the entire continent. We propose
this view with confidence because KuNgoni is, according to our present
knowledge and careful research throughout Africa, the only art centre on
the continent where the three domains of theology, anthropology and
African art consistently seek and find a successful synthesis. The work is
not limited to religious subject but to the general thyme of African life,
sculptures, carvings in bas-relief, moulded statues and vessels from the
centre can be found in the presidential palaces of Malawi, Tanzania,
Mozambique and Zambia. The royal family of the United Kingdom and Pope
John Paul II possess carvings from Mua. (The Papal collection can now be
seen in the anthropological section of the Vatican Museums.) Many pieces
have also been sent all over the world for private collections and
museums.
The background of the Art Centre at
Mua.
In 1976 the KuNgoni Art Craft Centre was founded on the premises of the
Catholic parish in Mua, a village on the eastern slope of the Dedza
Plateau within sight of Lake Malawi. Founded by the White Fathers in 1902,
the present parish in Mua, Our Lady of Perpetual Help, belongs to Dedza
Diocese. Since, however, the true beginnings of the KuNgoni Art Craft
Centre are inextricably linked with the story of its founder, Fr. Claude
Boucher, they go back far beyond 1976.
Claude
Boucher was born in Montreal, Canada, on 2nd August 1941. Very
early in his life he became fascinated by Africa through the many hours
spent in an African museum in his hometown. At the age of four he started
to draw and to work in pastels, having inherited his artistic talent from
his mother who is a painter. Throughout his childhood illustrated books of
Africa which inspired him to draw and mould exotic animals enthralled him.
In nearby Longueuil Claude Boucher attended a Franciscan secondary school
whose staff recognised his artistic talents very early and promoted them
as much as possible. During this period Claude experimented with a variety
of artistic techniques, including: painting, the moulding of statues,
pottery making, and collage. Between the ages of seventeen and eighteen he
organised two successive exhibitions, one in Longueuil and the other at
Saint Jean d’Iberville. Both were very successful. In 1962 the youthful
Claude Boucher felt called to become a priest and, more specifically, to
join the Society of the Missionaries of Africa, popularly known as the
White Fathers. He was not the first in his family to follow a missionary
vocation. One aunt was a religious sister working in Mzuzu Diocese in
Malawi from 1949; another aunt, also a religious sister, was working in
Haiti. At the time of his entry into the seminary Claude was convinced
that he should leave his artistic career behind. In fact, the day before
he moved into the major seminary he painted a huge canvas, convinced that
this would be the last painting of his life: the painting depicted a bird
in flight. To be a priest and an artist at the same time seemed to him to
constitute an irreconcilable contradiction. His teachers at the major
seminary of Eastview, now Vanier, solidified this view by always
encouraging the young man to leave behind what the theology of the time
called the “old Adam”. But when the church needed to be decorated for
Christmas and other major feasts, they were quick to remember the artistic
talents of the young seminarian. Nevertheless, in accordance with the
contemporary authoritarian system of the seminary, the young student was
allowed to paint only at the request of his superiors. In his rare hours
of privacy, however, Claude Boucher was permitted to paint for himself
some small meditation pictures in which he tried to depict his spiritual
experiences. During the following years Claude Boucher was occasionally
requested to produce some minor commissions for the community despite the
priority placed on his priestly vocation. In this way he came to create
some cribs in plaster, liturgical tapestries, altar decorations, and
meditation pictures of Mary, the Mother of God. During his time at the
seminary he also wrote and produced a stage play about the martyrs of
Uganda. For the performance he designed the costumes, background scenery
and stage props. Finally, he was asked to organise an exhibition of photos
whose theme was the change in the concept of missions.
In
1967 Montreal hosted the World Exhibition. The Christian pavilion was to
display an exhibit entitled L’Homme
dèchirè, the intention of which was to depict graphically to the
public the appalling hunger existing in the world, and the reality of a
human race, which was already torn apart and continuing to tear itself to
pieces. Claude Boucher was appointed head of the team that was to decorate
the pavilion. Not only did he co-ordinate the whole exhibition, but he
also contributed some collages himself. Despite his own earlier intentions
and the ascetical mindset of his superiors at the seminary, when Claude
Boucher was ordained priest on 18th June 1967, he cannot be
said to have left behind the old man, the artist. What he had begun, in
fact, was the integration of the “old man” of culture with the “new
man” of religion. Keeping in mind this aspect of his life is vital for
grasping his own self-understanding as a missionary as well as his future
work at the centre. It will also, as we shall see, have certain
theological implications for this study.
In December 1967, when Claude
Boucher arrived in Malawi, his first appointment was to Kasina, a mission
station of the White Fathers located between Dedza and Lilongwe. There he
started work as a priest and missionary and learned the local language,
Chewa. Soon after his arrival he started to create a series of slides to
be called “The Good News of Jesus Christ”. This effort would turn out
to be a huge media package produced over a period of four years. The
immensity of the project gives a clear insight into the young
missionary’s early endeavour to Africanise catechism and theology with
the help of images. In more than 2,000 photos Claude Boucher re-created
biblical scenes featuring Malawians in the Malawian countryside. This he
did deliberately in order to demonstrate that Christ has become man not
only in Palestine but also in Malawi. Although photography was a new and
unfamiliar medium for him as an artist, he gradually mastered the
technical difficulties involved. A few years later Claude Boucher
explained his initial vision in an article for a Canadian journal.
“I asked myself how Malawians
might be helped to recognise Jesus as their brother. For them it doesn’t
matter very much whether Jesus has a white or black face. What is far more
important is whether his attitude and behavior are African, What are the
paths on which he walks and what are the landscapes he moves through?
Happily Malawi is very similar to the Holy Land in many ways. We have
mountains and valleys, lakes and rivers, sites that resemble uncannily
Mount Tabor, the Book of Kedron, Lake Genessaret and the Jordan River.”
After
an intensive search Claude Boucher found a young man named Johannes who,
because of his relaxed photogenic manner and exemplary way of life, was
chosen to represent Jesus. Out of the 2,000 photos taken, Claude Boucher
eventually selected 261 slides, which he then combined with biblical
texts. This media project was hugely successful and widely used in the
pastoral work of other missionaries in Malawi. Through pictures more
effectively than through mere preaching of the Word, Claude Boucher was
able to reach the heart, the soul and the spirit of the people. Other
audio-visual material followed, portraying the parables, creation and
other themes. Claude Boucher said: “I had a technicolor dream: the dream
of letting the Gospel shine in the hues and tints of ordinary day-to-day
life in Malawi.” It may be said that these first works of Claude Boucher
in Malawi represent in a concrete form the two phases, which T.
Sundermeier has identified, as the way Christian art in Africa generally
develops. According to this scholar the first phase in which “biblical
history is depicted as taking place in Africa, is followed by a second
more profound phase, in which the artists discover Africa already present
in the Bible”.
In
1968 Fr. Boucher was transferred to Nsipe in Ntcheu district where he was
to stay till 1973. There he continued his work on the project “The Good
News of Jesus Christ”. This move actually caused some problems because
there were fewer people available to become involved either as subjects of
or technicians in the photography. In Nsipe Claude Boucher was to become
more deeply involved in the liturgical aspect of pastoral work. More and
more frequently he was asked to decorate churches. At the same time he
started to discover young talent: artists and craftsmen who would be able
to assist him in his work. Among the first was a middle-aged man named
Lenardi Chikasasa already renowned as a very good carver of mortars. For
the church at Nsipe he asked this Akamitondo
(the nickname means “mortar-carver” in Chewa), to create an alter
using a decorated mortar as its pedestal and to carve a tabernacle in the
shape of a maize store. The results were to encourage the man to undertake
further work of this kind and on the other, Akamitondo himself developed a
keen interest in this new field of carving. Soon he moved to Nsipe and
settled next to the mission station where he worked at perfecting his
skills. With him arrived Che’square, Chebwanali and Jibu Sani, who also
wanted to become carvers. Like Akamitondo the three new artists were from
Chingale, a Yao village at the foot of the western scarp of the Zomba
plateau.
In
1970 Claude Boucher met a young man named Tambala Mponyami who would
become a very skilled painter. With this gifted fellow-artist, Claude
Boucher was to decorate a great many churches in the years that followed.
Tambala Mponyami became one of Claude Boucher’s best friends and was in
time appointed his administrative deputy at the KuNgoni Art Craft Centre
in Mua, a post that he held until his death on 4th September
1997.
In
1970 and 1971 the team of artists decorated their first church. At that
time an old barn formerly used for drying tobacco served as the parish
church at Nsipe. Akamitondo carved a second mortar, which was used
together with his first one as a base for the new altar. The use of
traditional mortars as pedestals for the altar represented the first
attempt of the team to create contextual Christian art. The underlying
concept for the design of the altar came from the every day life of the
village. As maize is the staple food for Malawians, without which they can
neither survive nor lead reasonably happy lives, so bread of the Eucharist
is for Christians the food for their spiritual survival and well being.
Other furnishings for the church that followed the same motif as the altar
included: the pulpit in the form of a fertile maize stalk, and the
tabernacle in the form of a traditional granary for the storage of maize.
Also intricately
carved were the seats within the sanctuary, the offertory table, and some
statues. The walls of this first church were decorated with motifs from
the Ngoni tribe, originally a cattle keeping people whose culture still
prevails in the Nsipe area. Already in this, their first church, the
artists deliberately used local materials in order to express their
appreciation of what is truly African. The use of local wood, materials,
and colours remains an important feature of the art centre even today. In
this way the local culture contributes not only the themes but also the
materials for their execution.
At
Nsipe, Claude Boucher and Akamitondo began to give courses to talented
artists who lived on the mission station at that time as well as to anyone
else interested enough to come and learn. Perhaps the most important
milestone of these early years is the figure of the risen Christ that
Akamitondo dared to carve in 1970. It took some time before the
‘mortar-carver” Akamitondo
felt equal to the task of carving a human form. The cruciform body is
about 140cm high and portrays Christ nailed on a shield of bark cloth.
Although his feet are nailed as a sign of his crucifixion, his face is
lifted up, signifying his resurrection. In a powerful use of symbolism the
arms of this Christ are spread in a wide arc as a sign of his desire to
include all humanity in the mystery of the resurrection and redemption.
This represents a remarkable sculptural accomplishment for an artist who
at the time was not even a Christian, but a follower of the traditional
religion of Malawi. Today the original sculpture of the risen Christ
decorates the church in Bilila. Through it Akamitondo received
recognition, acknowledgment, praise and his first orders from outside the
immediate vicinity of Nsipe. For the entrance hall of Monfort Press in
Limbe he carved a figure of the risen Christ. For the contemplative
community of Poor Clares in Lilongwe he carved a statue of Our Lady as a
pregnant young woman.
By
1972 a small team of artists were working at Nsipe. In addition to
Akamitondo and Tambala Mponyami, the carver, Jibu Sani and the painter Kay
Chiromo were making great strides. Kay Chiromo would later become one of
Malawi’s foremost artists, as well as art scholar, art educator and the
nominal head of the tiny art section of the University of Malawi in Zomba.
As time went by, Akamitondo and Jibu Sani regularly had from five to six
students working under their tutelage. These men can justifiably be
considered to be the “first generation” of KuNgoni’s painters and
carvers, for it was they who laid the foundation for the future students
by means of their own work of art and the training they gave. They
constitute the living foundation of the centre. It must be admitted that
the first attempts of these young men were not, in general, spiritually
inspired. What was paramount for them at this stage was the expression of
their feelings and the mastery gained by experimenting with new materials
and forms.
Jibu
Sani, who was second only to Akamitondo in this first generation of
carvers came from Bwanausi, a village that is still well know for its
carvings. Jibu Sani’s grandfather was the head of the Muslim community
in nearby Chingale village. When he went to Dar-es-Salam for religious
formation in Islam, he learnt of the Makonde carvers. Adopting their
technique, he brought it back to Malawi where he passed it on to his son
and grandson. This is why Jibu Sani’s works from early 1970’s testify
so strongly to his inheritance of the Makonde tradition. Before coming to
Nsipe, Jibu Sani dealt only with “profane” subjects, and used only
ebony, which, together with ivory, is the chief material, used by the
Makonde. In his early efforts his figures are always marked by the same
stiff expression. His scenes of ordinary life, of which the best example
is “The Man with the Hoe”, are carved in a very simple yet deeply
impressive style. In Jibu Sani’s case, devotion to Islam seemed to be
primarily a way of being faithful to his ancestors and to carving
tradition that he took over from his father and his grandfather. For him
Islam was not seen as an obstacle in his approach to Christian themes or
African Traditional Religion. Akamitondo, on the contrary, who was
originally a disciple of traditional African religion, started right from
the beginning to deal with religious themes, including those of
Christianity.
As
the men worked together, they began to develop a common style, though the
individual artists never gave up their personal styles. The Europeans
understanding of an autonomous artist, who is not completely rigid even in
Europe generally assumes that the work of the artist is “his”. African
artists, on the other hand, are far more aware that every work of art owes
a great deal to the community from which it comes. Moreover, at KuNgoni
teamwork produced common works and it is not always possible to trace from
which work any particular artist could claim. Looking back to this first
close-knit group of artists, Claude Boucher remarks: “It is thanks to
the continuous co-operation at Nsipe that the most beautiful works were
developed. In the group of artists who worked on the mission station, one
produced the draft, or the rough wood block, a second the feet, a third
the hands or the face, each one according to his capacities. At every
stage they discussed the results together and exchanged their
experiences.”
In
these first works from Nsipe we recognise important concepts which
characterise the later works of the KuNgoni Art Centre.
In
1972, when the artists were invited to attend the catechetical congress in
Nairobi, they gained a reputation outside Malawi for the first time. They
displayed some of their work at this congress for which Jibu Sani carved
his first figure of Christ.
By
this time the men had already been discussing for quite a while the
possibility of establishing a common art centre. They had already
identified potential premises at Nsipe. But Claude Boucher knew that a
deepening of his anthropological knowledge ought to be gained before
beginning work on so grand a scale. During his stay at Nsipe he gained the
confidence of the people, who had generously given him access to their
culture and religion. In fact, they allowed him to be initiated into the
secret society of the gule wamkulu (variously translated as the “great” dancer or the
“initiation’ dance), a privilege rarely given to outsiders. Claude
Boucher believed that this newly acquired knowledge had great potential
for the effective pastoral work. The same was true of the works of art,
for the teamwork of the artists had led them nearer and nearer to their
historical and cultural roots. Without the tools with which to assess this
heritage, however, he would risk missing some fundamental principles
necessary to underpin the program of enculturation envisioned for the
future. For this reason Claude Boucher went to study for nine months at
the Gaba Pastoral Institute of AMECA in Eldoret, Kenya. After that he did
field research in Zambia and Malawi, and finally he attended the Institute
for Oriental and African studies in London, where he completed a special
study of the anthropology of the ethnic groups of Malawi. Meanwhile at
Nsipe, the physical laying of the foundation stone for the KuNgoni Art
Centre was postponed, but the idea for it had already been born and lived
on in the hearts of the artists awaiting Claude Boucher’s return.
The Foundation of the KuNgoni Art Craft Centre
After
his return from London, Claude Boucher and his co-workers began in earnest
to plan the art centre to be established at Nsipe. However, the Bishop of
Dedza, Cornelius Chitsulo, did not agree with them on the proposed
location. He wanted to have the centre in his home parish of Mua. The
Bishop’s preference led to prolonged deliberations. After his studies,
Claude’s vision of the function and policies of the future art centre
was clear. The main emphasis would remain the teamwork of local artists
and their own discussions of the various cultural traditions of Malawi.
Already at Nsipe they had began to incorporate more and more certain
themes from their ancestral religion into their work. Among these, the gule
wamkulu and the initiation rites themselves played a particularly
important role. In this latter theme lay the nub of the difficulty.
Whereas mostly Ngoni inhabits Nsipe, Mua is mostly inhabited by Chewa.
Among the latter tribe the gule wamkulu, plays an immensely important role. It was easy to
foresee that the centre would have problems with the secret societies if
foreigners (mainly the Ngoni and Yao artists) depicted their rites and
traditions in a more or less public art centre. Moreover important cult
sites of the Traditional Religion like the rain shrine of Mankhamba are located near Mua. Since the Chewa normally did the
carving of traditional masks in secret, what would happen if the
non-initiated carvers went into the villages to study the masks and
traditional rituals? How would the people of Mua react to a public
production of masks, even if these masks were not meant for ritual use?
Would the members of gule wamkulu regard the carvers as competitors? Finally, would the
people perceive this new enterprise as a continuation of the old struggle
between the Ngoni and the Chewa? In actual fact conflicts between the
Catholic Church and gule wamkulu
had been very violent in Mua in the past. Nsipe did not pose the same
potential ethnical problems as Mua, for the secret societies at Nsipe were
more tolerant. At Mua the possible consequences of the use of ritual masks
in church decoration or for pastoral work had to be taken into account.
To
complicate matters further, Bishop Chitsulo had his own agenda for the
proposed art centre. He wanted the place to produce pious religious
articles reflecting a European, rather than an African approach. Moreover,
the bishop saw the centre as a kind of income generating activity that
would offer employment to potential workers from his home parish. For
these reasons, Claude Boucher and his co-workers were reluctant to
establish the art centre in Mua. What the bishop wanted was basically a
commercial centre for religious art; what Claude Boucher wanted was an art
academy oriented towards the local culture. It must be added that the
artists gathered around Claude Boucher genuinely desired to come closer to
the local culture. They too wanted to research their own African
geographical and cultural context and to express the religious and
Christian values of these traditions in their works.
The
problems that surround the basic concept of the proposed centre reflected
not so much the differences of the personalities involved, but rather two
totally opposite theologies of mission. They provide, in fact, an
excellent example of the conflicts raging in the post-Vatican II era
between different generations of African Christians in a country in which
the Catholic Church was trying to find its way. Like its African
neighbours during this period, Malawi was slowly progressing from a
missionary dominated church to a local church. The conflicts arising from
different theologies of mission were also noticeable in the contemporary
Malawian episcopate. This is not surprising, for recent sociological
studies have shown that for the first, and often the second generation of
African Christians, it is almost impossible to arrive at a fearless and
free approach to one’s own cultural and religious heritage. In fact, in
the Hymns and catechesis of the first half of this century a surprisingly
strong recurrent theme is the demand made on the newly baptised convert
for a complete rejection of the “old Adam” who is saved by
Christianity from his dark pagan past. The first Christians were enjoined
to leave behind not only the “old Adam” but also almost everything
that could provide fertile soil for their continued existence as Africans
in an African culture. It is to be hoped that future generations of
Christians will be freer to search for their cultural roots in such a way
that they can truly live out this fundamental option of the theology of
enculturation.
From
the artists’ point of view, there was one very practical reason in
favour of settling at Mua. The huge forest near Mua would supply excellent
wood for carving. Finally, after prolonged discussion a decision was
reached. The carvers and Claude Boucher agreed to move to Mua, but not
without having insisted on certain conditions before hand. At about the
same time the plot of land envisaged for the construction of the centre at
Nsipe was given back to the people. In October 1976 the new centre opened
its carving workshop in Mua. The artists themselves had not been
discouraged by its difficult and troubled beginnings. They had held firmly
to their priority. By engaging with the local culture and religion of the
people, they would now try to engage their African heritage in a creative
way and to search for new forms of expression by which themes of African
religious life would add meaning to their Christian faith and lifestyle.
From
Nsipe, Lenardi Chikasasa (Akamitondo) and his son James together with Jibu
Sani and his son Wilson came to Mua with Claude Boucher. In addition,
Akamitondo and Jibu Sani had five or six students each, to whom they gave
lessons in theory as well as practical work. Towards the end of 1976
Tambala Mponyami moved from Nsipe to Mua so that painting classes could
start. Claude Boucher was careful to share his anthropological and
theological expertise with all the students who attended courses in Mua.
The artists decided to call their centre KuNgoni, after a cataract on the
mission premises whose waters thunder down the slope. In their view the
centre should be “something refreshing like a shower, water falling from
the top. Knowledge and experience gained here should be something
refreshing in your life.” Another more important reason for the choice
of this name was that by choosing a name other than Mua the artists could
avoid too close an association with the Catholic parish itself. In the
past the relationship between the Christian churches and traditional
religion had been particularly troubled in Mua parish. As a result the
artists felt that they had to guard against an over-identification of the
centre with the mission. In the same year the artists started with the
construction of the huge rondavel, which became the workplace of the
carvers. In the early years in Mua, the first generation of carvers slowly
developed a “canon’ of themes which they taught to their numerous
students. Despite a variety of different problems, the centre was able to
continue its task of taking root in the local culture and thus furthering
the process if enculturation. The artists decorated a number of churches,
carved large panels in bas-relief, and produced large sculptures as well
as many smaller items. Although they needed commissioned works in order to
finance the centre and to generate income for artists, the artists
understood their work to be in and for the local church, and did not
produce works for export in the beginning. For quite a few years they did
so only occasionally and by exception. After having experimented for some
years with various church decorations, in 1982 for the first time, the
artists designed a huge wall painting expressing the general concept of
enculturation. Measuring eight metres by three meters, the klajlpicture
was commissioned for the church of Milala in the diocese of Zomba. In it
the parable of the fishermen, is depicted in a landscape exactly like the
western shore of Lake Chirwa where Milala is located. The first stage of
the history of the KuNgoni Art Centre may be said to have ended in the
same year.
New Artists and Big Orders.
By
1984 a new group of about ten master carvers was firmly established in Mua.
They were able, according to their cultural background and ability, to
execute successfully the challenging commissions received by the centre.
By this time the process of becoming familiar with the local history and
culture was in a sense complete. Many of the artists had been initiated
into the Chewa nyau secret
society and had become socially established in one or another of the
villages around Mua.
Commissions
were usually handled in this way: The customer explained his idea, which
was then discussed at the centre in order to ascertain who was best
equipped to undertake the commission, eventually it was decided which
artist or artists would undertake the work requested. By this process the
artists were protected from the direct influence of the customers and
could thus retain control over their own work. The same approach was used
with regards to the decorating of churches and to personal commissions for
smaller items. Before any artist accepted a commission, he had to
demonstrate his competence with regard to the cultural background demanded
by the particular work. During the first years most orders came from
missionaries and international institutions, but in later years more and
more orders came from Malawian priests, bishops, seminaries and government
institutions. This fact alone stands as a major tribute to KuNgoni centre
because in a low-income country like Malawi little money can be spared for
the luxury of good art.
In
1985 the KuNgoni Art Centre reached a landmark in its history. By the end
of that year all the essential buildings of the centre were completed and
fully equipped. Apart from the buildings of Mua mission itself, the Centre
comprised: the main building with storerooms, classroom and exhibition
rooms; three big rondavels for the carvers, painters and potters;
accommodation for the artists in residence; and a guest house. The whole
complex is set in a miniature zoological park and botanical garden in
which some of the smaller animals of Malawi live in captivity. Next to
each animal’s cage is a small signboard on which is indicated the
zoological name of the animal and a Malawian proverb about it. Even the
plants and trees on the premises are labelled with information signboards.
This aspect of the centre supplies models for the artists to draw or
carve, but it is also designed to arouse in them and in all visitors an
appreciation and respect for the whole of creation. It is in this
environment that the artists work and live with their families. To this
diminutive paradise they invite their visitors for learning and for
aesthetic pleasure. In actual fact, a central theme of the work of the
centre is the myth of Kaphirintiwa, which depicts a moment of creation, in
which nature, animal, God and humankind lived together in peace. The
approach to Malawian traditions in the KuNgoni Art Centre may in fact be
said to include the laying out of the centre as a “religious bio
system’.
In
1991 the foundations of the Chamare Museum were laid at Mua next to the
art centre. The museum is housed in three large rondavels which are
reminiscent of the three huts set up around a Baobab tree by the first
White Fathers when the settled at Mua in 1902.
Gule Wamkulu masks near Mua Mission
The first catholic missionaries at Mponda’s
Missionary taking a catechism class
Rita Kafulama, the last Mwali or rain priestess
First African nuns in Nyasaland
Ngoni woman
Which doctor’s utensil now also used in Christian services
Nun travelling in a Machila
Workmen making bricks for the mission building
Map showing the smoothen most salve rout in 1880’s
Villages and traditional shrines around Mua
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