The exhibition, organised by the Chair of Studies on Tradition of the UVa, is part of the European project ‘Unveiling the Arts and Works behind the MASKS’.
The private collection of Nacho Rovira ‘Alas y Viento’ (Masks of the World Section), which has 159 masks after the incorporation of those of Güegüense and Macho Ratón from Nicaragua, now has two more masks from Zamora, the Zangarrón de Montamarta and the Tafarrón de Pozuelo de Tábara. With these two additions, the collection has the three zangarrones from the province of Zamora: Sanzoles, Montamarta and Pozuelo de Tábara.
This donation is related to the MASKS project led by the University of Valladolid. These are not the first masks from artisans participating in the project to be added to the collection, as four masks from Castilla y León and five from Romania have been added over the course of 2024. The two caretas from Villanueva de Valrojo (leather and papier-mâché), the Colacho from Castrillo de Murcia, the Machurrero from Pedro Bernardo, the two Chiparús from Nejeru, the two Cucos (Cuco and Cucoiace) from Brănești and Sārsāliā from Șivița are also part of the collection thanks to the advice of professors Pilar Panero from the University of Valladolid and Adelina Dogaru from the University of Bucharest.
Nacho Rovira is grateful that the MUVa has hosted this exhibition and the MASKS project, a cooperation born from the same purpose, to vindicate the art of masks and the positive energies and teachings that are transmitted with masks. For him ‘beyond the material value of the masks, they are a vehicle for sharing beliefs, emotions and many personal and social relationships that are now expanded and enriched with Montamarta and Pozuelo de Tábara and their Zangarrón and Tafarrón respectively’.
Javier Silva Lorenzo, vice-president of MascaraZA, the Provincial Federation of Masquerades of Zamora, points out how important the masquerades are for the province. Through the associations and the federation, experiences are shared and support is given regardless of the stage each festival is in and the actions programmed as a whole. For the three masquerades with zangarrón it is exciting to be in a collection with such repercussion and prestige, but the joy is shared with the groups of any place that work for their traditions. He points out that what is necessary is to continue and be happy with everything that serves to make the mask culture more visible.
The new incorporation is due to the fact that the two zangarrones meet the requirements demanded by Nacho Rovira for the collection: they form part of festivals with a notable ritual density, they are alive, there is consensus among the communities that carry them for their incorporation into the collection, they respect human, animal and environmental rights and they have notable aesthetic values.
Also, as Pilar Panero points out, fortune and opportunity have played their part. The story is simple. In the work of MASKS, one of the artisans, José Ramón Pérez Pérez, builds one of the two devil masks for the project research, namely the festive red devil mask that represents the New Year and is used on Epiphany. He gave it as a personal gift to Pilar Panero. She thought that she would be more grateful for the present if, beyond leaving it in her home or office, it could be seen by people from all over the world in a collection of extraordinary richness and category. He consulted both parties and, being in agreement, the agreement was reached. At the same time, another of the craftsmen who collaborate with MASKS, José Javier Sánchez Hernández, who some years ago had made the Zangarrón de Sanzoles for Alas y Viento, asked permission to also make the Tafarrón de Pozuelo and donate it to the collection. In this way, three of the most emblematic masquerades of Zamora are represented, those which are celebrated with a single masked whipping man, and which are related to others on the Iberian Peninsula.
The director of the MUVa, Professor Irune Fiz, is satisfied with the exhibition, as it has been visited by almost a thousand people in 38 days. In her opinion, ‘the mask, which is universal in all cultures, generates effective communication. It allows us, even with a limited sample, to understand the values, languages and customs of others that make us think about our own. From its aesthetics, the local only makes sense from the global. It is very interesting to see the influences between the modern, even the avant-garde, and tradition’. She reminds us that in a public university like Valladolid, art and culture in general belong to everyone and are for everyone.
The curator of the exhibition, Pilar Panero, says that ‘there could be no better way to close the exhibition. MASKS is a research and transfer project that assigns to mask craftsmanship as heritage the capacity to outline, create and rescue identities; but these cannot be effective if there is no consensus of the social actors with the capacity to decide their present and their future. The basis, in this specific case, lies in the artisans themselves (often local mask builders) and associations that operate in their own territory in their festivities, beyond the awareness-raising or appropriation campaigns that are carried out by the authorities and academia. Offering a mask or two to reach more people without the protagonists makes no sense because we are talking about living traditions. The museum, teaching and research are effective as long as they do not interfere, fossilise or limit their own dynamics. He also highlighted the expertise of the two artisans, José Ramón Pérez and José Javier Sánchez, who, in addition to making the masks, are the custodians of the knowledge of the costumes of the masked masqueraders of Montamarta and Sanzoles respectively.
The donation was attended by representatives of the three associations with zangarrones from Zamora that are members of MascaraZA: José Manuel Carretero Román for the Asociación El Tafarrón y la Madama de Pozuelo de Tábara; José Ramón Pérez Pérez Pérez for the Asociación Cultural el Zangarrón de Montamarta, who is also a craftsman; and José Javier Sánchez Hernández, also a craftsman, and Antonio Domingo Prada Lena for the Asociación Amigos del Zangarrón de Sanzoles. Javier Silva Lorenzo attended on behalf of MascaraZA.
Photos: Chuchi Guerra
MUVa: https://www.uva.es/export/sites/uva/6.vidauniversitaria/6.01.cultura/6.01.05.museos/
Project: 101139852 - MASKS - Unveiling the Arts and Works behind the MASKS - ERASMUS-EDU-2023-PI-ALL-INNO-EDU-ENTERP: https://unveilingthemasks.uva.es/
Alas y Viento: Sección Máscaras del Mundo: https://www.alasyviento.es/mascaras-del-mundo/
G.I.R. IDINTAR: https://gir-idintar.blogs.uva.es/
MascaraZA: https://mascaraza.es/
