Conversation@PAM: The Power and Eccentricity of Balinese Temple Masks

Forces both demonic and divine make a visible presence in Balinese life through the vehicle of empowered temple masks made mobile on the bodies of their entranced mediums. Facsimiles are used in secular performances and sold as souvenirs throughout Bali.

In this presentation, anthropologist Laurel Kendall describes the acts of production and magic that make a temple mask, then offers some eccentric counter-examples of masks that, in the words of one Balinese interlocutor, became “sacred by accident.”

Co-sponsored by: USC Department of Anthropology, USC Visual Studies Research Institute, and USC Provost's Interdisciplinary Teaching Initiative

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