Dancing with Devils

In March 2020, the Dancing with Devils: Latin American Mask Traditions exhibit scheduled for debut at Thompson Library at Ohio State and the Lakewood Public Library in Cleveland was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. These sister exhibits presented by the K’acha Willakuna Collaborative’s Knowledge Equity Working Group would have featured original devil masks worn in Latin American rituals and festivals donated to the Latin American Studies’ Andean and Amazonian Cultural Artifacts Collection by Ohio State alumnus Michael Gordon. Alongside the masks, the exhibit would have included large photographs of the Diablada de Pillaro (Devil Dance of Píllaro) in the Ecuadorian province of Tungurahua taken by Ohio State Multimedia Journalism Lecturer Leonardo Carrizo. This online exhibit is a conversion of the postponed exhibit.

During the months that have proceeded since March, the COVID-19 pandemic has devasted most of Latin America. At certain times countries like Brazil and Peru had the highest levels of confirmed cases and deaths in the world. Areas of Ecuador such as Guayaquil and Quito also suffered devastating losses. Please keep these global communities in mind as you engage with this exhibit.

The Andean and Amazonian Cultural Artifact Collection

The Andean and Amazonian Cultural Artifacts Collection acquired by the Center for Latin American Studies (CLAS) Title VI Federal Funds is housed in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese and supports a growing curriculum and innovative programming on the Andes and Amazonia connected to the Quechua Language Program and the Andean and Amazonian Studies Minor at Ohio State.

The collection includes artifacts from the Andes and Amazonia including “Slice of Life” Tigua , unique Canelos Quichua Ceramics, etched story gourds, woven tapestries and shigras (net bags), musical instruments, festival masks and ritual items, hunting implements, children’s toys, food ways implements.

The collection is managed and maintained by a team of student curators registered either under Independent Studies, Undergraduate Research, Undergraduate Thesis or Internship credits, and/or participating with the collection as part of the K’acha Willaykuna Andean and Amazonian Indigenous Arts and Humanities Collaboration Working Group.

Learn more about this collection at u.osu.edu/aaac.

The Photographer

Leonardo Carrizo is a multimedia journalism lecturer at The Ohio State University and a Columbus-based photojournalist. He has traveled extensively throughout Ecuador documenting the people and culture, which has culminated in two exhibitions: The Face of Chagas Disease (Ecuador, 2009) and Labor and Life (Columbus, Ohio, 2018). He teaches photography abroad to high school students as a National Geographic Student Expeditions trip leader. Learn more about Carrizo at www.leonardocarrizo.com.

Special Acknowledgement to Mark Gordon

In 2020, Ohio State alumnus and Professor of Art at Barton College Mark Gordon donated his collection of devil masks to the CLAS Andean and Amazonian Cultural Artifacts Collection. A select portion from this donated collection are featured in this online exhibit. Professor Gordon retired from Barton College in 2020.

Exhibit Sponsors

This exhibit was made possible by The Ohio State University’s Center for Latin American Studies, the K’acha Willaykuna Collaborative, the K’acha Willaykuna Knowledge Equity Workshop Group and Lakewood Public Library.

Acknowledgements

Our gratitude goes to Mark Gordon, Dr. Michelle Wibbelsman, Megan Hasting, Dr. Terrell Morgan, Leonardo Carrizo, Stephanie Porrata, Ken Aschliman, Justin Luna and the University Libraries Marketing and Communications Department.

Exhibit Bibliography

Acosta, Alberto. 2018. O bem viver: oportunidade para imaginar outros mundos. São Paulo: Autonomia Literária

Gordon, Mark. 1987. “Tradition and the Transformation of Styles: A Documentation and Analysis of the Horned Carnival Masks of the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, and Puerto Rico — An Artist’s Response.” Field Research.

Girma, Lebawit Lily. 2016. Dominican Republic, fifth ed. Moon Handbooks. Berkeley, CA: Avalon Travel.

Quezada Ortega, Jaime Ramiro. “Las máscaras en el arte popular ecuatoriano: estudio de las máscaras de la Diablada de Píllaro, aplicado a la producción escultórica contemporánea.” Master’s thesis. Universidad de Cuenca, 2016. http://dspace.ucuenca.edu.ec/handle/123456789/26139.

Riggio, M. C., Marino, A., & Vignolo, P. (Eds.). (2015). Festive Devils of the Americas. Seagull Books.

Wibbelsman, Michelle, Diego Arellano, and Tan Nguyen. 2016. The Hidden Life of Things: Andean and Amazonian Cultural Artifacts and the Stories They Tell. September 1—October 31, 2016, Global Gallery, Hagerty Hall Lobby, The Ohio State University.