This research explores the migration of Jonkonnu masquerade culture from Jamaica to North Carolina, focusing on the craft of mask-making. It aims to trace the cultural journey, assess its impact, and investigate the influence of the tradition on shaping North Carolina's current Black beauty culture.
Selected works
The Tryon Palace Jonkonnu Drummers & Dancers perform at an annual Tryon Palace Multicultural Fair held at the North Carolina History Center in New Bern, NC. Photo credit: Gray Whitley / Sun Journal Staff
A mask of one of the famed Jonkonnu (masquerade) characters, Cow Head. Photo credit: Raymond Forbes, January 2007
DJ Fannie Mae, one of the collaborators behind Durag Fest. Photo credit: Chris Smalls for Charlotte Magazine, June 2018
Isaac Mendes Belisario, “Koo Koo, or Actor Boy” from Sketches of Character, In Illustration of the Habits, Occupations, and Costume of the Negro Population in the Island of Jamaica, 1837–38, hand-painted lithographic print Photo credit: The National Gallery of Jamaica
Woman adorned to look like a Samawa-like figure photographed in December 1914 in Magbile, present-day Bombali District, Sierra Leone. Photo credit: Northcote W. Thomas, 1915 Magbeli Archive
John Canoe Dancers in Jamaica, December 1975 Photo credit: WikiPedant at Wikimedia Commons
67 Broadway St, Asheville, NC 28801
(828) 785-1357 | info@centerforcraft.org
Gallery Hours: Tues–Sat, 10–6 get more info
Gallery Hours: Closed — Reopening Fall 2019
.jpg)
