The annual visitation of the Newfoundland mummers has captured the imagination of a number of writers and artists from the province, and this paper focuses on the works of one such Newfoundland artist-the printmaker, David Blackwood.
Visual representation is a powerful form of expression which, in this case, provides important clues into the individual and collective sense of the mummering tradition in Newfoundland. It will be argued that artistic interpretations of the mummers are reflective of issues pertaining not only to personal identity but are also closely connected to regional identity.
David Blackwood has been a dominant and charismatic force, not only within Canada but also in the international art scene. The broad appeal of Blackwood's art has come to many, including the artist, as a great surprise. His work translates the sagas of Newfoundland's seafaring days and commemorates a way of life quite foreign to the majority of Canada, let alone the rest of the world. Images of maritime tragedies, death at sea, and lost parties of sealers predominate. The closeness of community and familial bonds in outport life are also recurring themes in his work. He draws his viewers into his world and invites them to meet his people.
David Blackwood grew up in a time and place where it was considered unusual for children to make art. People were too busy surviving in Newfoundland to pursue art as a profession, however, as Blackwood is quick to point out, there was a strong aesthetic sense present in the material culture. The boats, architecture, furniture, storytelling and songwriting were all highly developed artistic skills. He remembers the incredible visual evocations that were produced in his mind while listening to the stories. Despite the difficulty of pursuing art, young Blackwood found his own ways of venting his artistic talents. His father recollects that at the age of three, David, "with scissors and cardboard... cut great spiralling shapes, made snow-flakes, birds, animals." A tin of water-colour paints, a Christmas present from Mrs. Gertie Hann, opened up a world of colour and new possibilities for the budding artist. He would steal his mother's sheets off the line, desperate to know what paint would look like on fabric, while the neighbour's goat was falsely accused of eating the sheets!
Blackwood clears his mind of the cobwebs that accumulate over time and brings back to life the mummers of his childhood. For him, "they represent the ultimate mummer." Moreover, he has also created for his viewers a kind of archetypal mummer, moulded and shaped from generations of family and community tradition. As we shall see, the concept of tradition is paramount to David Blackwood. Notions of tradition permeate his mummer sequence, if not the bulk of his work in general.
Blackwood's mummers convey an almost ethereal quality. Figures appear in an isolated landscape that is cold and threatening. Their expressions, if faces are disclosed, are dour and serious or, if hidden from view, are mysterious and almost frightening. Many descriptions of mummering reveal a time filled with merriment and laughter. Crowds of mummers tour from house to house singing and dancing, telling stories and eating too much Christmas cake. Lights burn well into the night, announcing hospitality to family and friends in the community. It seems strange then that Blackwood's images seem almost, at times, ominous. Perhaps this is to be expected since these are images conjured from his childhood. As early as age three or four years old, Blackwood remembers the costumed figures approaching the house, banging on the door with a stick or 'split', and coming into his kitchen:
And often mummers would be threatening, would be used to threaten bad children, like if you're not good we're gonna give you to the first mummer that comes through the door. We're gonna give you away. So for children it was a very sinister, threatening thing. These really strange people. These veils and these cloaks and big boots and so on, you know. And you never saw them during the daytime; it was nocturnal. Very mysterious and sinister... the scary aspect of mummers seemed to be the predominant thing.
Tradition then is central in Blackwood's work. He believes that the only true mythology that exists in Canada, aside from native cultures, exists in the Newfoundland sealing history. Blackwood considers himself a visual balladeer of the lore of Newfoundland. However, he sees himself as an angry recorder of this mythos because he feels "something has been destroyed." Newfoundland in the past was, according to Blackwood, superior in many ways. He believes that the quality of life was better, the people were self-reliant, and they had self confidence. When Newfoundland lost its independence, it also lost its spirit.
The images hold a deep significance for the artist, recording as they do, fragments from his life. They are also reflective of his deep commitment to this province's heritage and culture. In his own way he is contributing to the preservation and propagation of aspects of Newfoundland life. His work mirrors his strong sense of regional identity. Rex Clark, in writing about the impact that David Blackwood has had on Newfoundland culture, finds Blackwood's work to be a powerful expression of social and political criticism (Contrary Winds: Essays on Newfoundland Society in Crisis, 1986). As mummers, people are at their most assertive. They stand in protest against the established social order.
Blackwood's mummers stand out against the landscape in reverence to Newfoundland's past and are symbolic of individual and collective cultural nativism. He allows us to look beneath the surface of an old Newfoundland tradition and see it for all that it is worth; an iconic augmentation of a culture's pride. Blackwood introduces us to his mummers, permits us to look upon their faces despite the pretence of disguise, and takes us back to meet the "image behind the cloth".