A Disagreement In the Classroom: The Luluwa Helmet Mask

Sitting in my freshmen year art class, I wrote down my thoughts of the artwork on the screen. We were looking at the Luluwa Helmet Mask, made by the Luluwa people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Time to discuss, students debated the meaning of scarification patterns and the symmetry of the piece. As tradition, our group discussions ended with the opinion of our teacher- what she said would be considered final fact. After explaining the technicality of the piece, she began using terms like “weird” and “unrealistic” to describe the sculpture and its “exaggeration” of the human proportions. I was surprised that everyone was still taking notes. For the first time in that class, I raised my hand. I explained that the features were not exaggerated, but naturalistic to the Luluwa people, most likely showcasing their concept of beauty. Beginning to backtrack, my teacher said the features may be naturalistic to them, but not to us and our “rules” of beauty. I argued that regardless of location, we cannot undermine other beauty standards and features, just because they are not directly applicable to us. We argued back and forth, ultimately ending with my teacher not faltering in her opinion. I felt defeated as she shut me off, but looking around the classroom I saw students nodding at me. My teacher was absolutely unjustified in undermining an artwork by criticizing the culture of the artist, and despite not being able to change her opinion, I realized the importance of speaking up.