I have translated the works of 19 artists on war, migration, desolation and isolation, in particular with reference to works featuring pierrot, harlequin, clown or acrobat figures, precursor to our present day ShortKnee, as part of my Chantuelle Translations series articulating my response to the socially sanctioned slow and painful death of the ShortKnee. I have researched both the Egungun and Pierrot traditions as part of my ShortKnee study, and have formed the following opinion: the ShortKnee is today, in this artist’s opinion, the iconic instrument of the history of Grenada, and a subject worthy of vigorous visual artistic study.
Egungun means ‘powers concealed’, and its masking in Africa covers the whole body of the masquerader. The Egungun costume assembles multiple bold colour layers of different types, textures and patterns of fabric, to completely cover the person underneath, with the addition of glass beads, cowry shells, sequins and mirrors, adornments as Nkisi, to ward off spiritual enemies and offer passage into the spirit world. The beauty of this masquerade is achieved the high energy performances of song, dance and movement of the costume which swirls open to show off the fabrics and adornments.
The Pierrot originates with Italian theatre performers in late 17th century Paris. For the first two centuries of his history, he has been depicted as a naïve victim of unrequited love. His white face and costume of a loose white blouse with large buttons, a frilled collar, wide baggy trousers, and a hat or skullcap, suggested innocence, death; and naïveté in the face of eternal rejection, made the Pierrot a symbol to many artistic and cultural movements, invading the visual arts of the 19th and early 20th centuries.
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| Spirits of ShortKnee with Book of Names |
The Egungun culture arrived with the Yoruba peoples brought here to slave on the plantations of Grenada. The Pierrot came to Grenada during early French rule, as part of the Catholic pre-lenten Nice Carnival celebrations to which they were accustomed. The merging of Pierrot and Egungun elements was a disguise and an unique compromise to their socio-politico-cultural environs. It occurred as a way for the creolised population (free blacks and emancipated slaves) to participate in a recognised and allowed festival, while still preserving their ancestral masquerade.
The voluminous Egungun costume was reduced to roughly six and a half yards of printed heavily patterned patchwork or collages of brilliant coloured fabric. The Pierrot’s costume is referenced as a baggy blouse with long batwing sleeves, and baggier pants caught up just under the knees. The Egungun Nkisi influence suggested the tunic with chest mirror talismans attached. The performer also wore a painted wire mesh mask under a white towel headpiece (Pierrot) with or without a separate multi-patterned crown headpiece, gloves, stockings with white shoes and ankle bells (Egungun).
This character became known as the ShortKnee, and took on a life of its own, its masquerade performance still calling to mind community with ancestral spirits. I have translated Spanish painter Juan Gris’ 1924 work Pierrot with Book, to depict the two halves that make up the Grenada ShortKnee, holding a slave register, next to a pair of authentic shackles I took a photo of at the Westherall Estate Distillery museum in Saint David.