Museum of International Folk Art
Gaslighting ghosts
Images of ogres, devils and monsters become a menacing yet scintillating presence in Yokai: Ghosts and Demons of Japan. The exhibit shows the role of these entities in Japanese culture for more than 400 years. As they “interact with the human world, they spark common notions of frightful things,” according to the exhibit’s introduction. “Perhaps the most terrifying are those that shed light on the faults of human society.” Among masks etched with grotesque features is a distorted, pain-filled face of a woman scorned. A white-clad ghost haunts the husband who disfigured her face with poisoned makeup. Nearby, a shaggy, red-faced, knife-wielding demon ominously asks, “Are there any bad kids here?” The exhibit shows the development of yokai, from images on ancient woodblocks and scrolls to modern representations — toys, games, puppets, works of art, theatrical performances, films and festival floats. To move the experience from visual to visceral, the exhibit invites visitors to enter a “ghost house.” But the invitation warns that they will experience “jump scares,” the result of sudden light and sound distortions and other surprise assaults on the senses. And visitors do scream. The exhibit continues to shock through Aug. 31, 2022.
Uncovering the art of masks
Masks worn during the COVID-19 pandemic do more than protect against the spread of disease. As expressed in an exhibit titled Masks: Creative Responses to the Global Pandemic, they are also a means of “self-expression, politics, fashion and humanity’s hope and care for each other,” according to the show’s introduction. An ode to the face mask in all its forms, the exhibit shows masks with varied enhancements — embroidered, painted, beaded and expressing personal or political messages. There is humor in La Sagrada Papel (The Holy Paper), a wooden mask depicted as a roll of toilet paper, with gold spikes mimicking a saintly crown. “It’s a lighthearted piece for protection and running out of toilet paper,” says the artist, Arthur López of Santa Fe. Most dramatic is a life-size figure of a “plague doctor.” He is draped in black from head to toe, his whole attire a kind of full-body mask, a version of today’s personal protective equipment. His face is covered by a huge beak, a place to hold herbs and aromatics, once thought to reduce the “bad air” of disease. The masks are on display until Jan. 15, 2023.