Kibbo Kift: A visit to Whitechapel Gallery
By Mark Freeman
Last week a colleague and I
visited the Whitechapel Gallery to see an exhibition
about the Kindred of the Kibbo Kift, an esoteric organisation founded in
1920 by John Hargrave.
Hargrave had been involved
with the early Scouting movement, but broke away due to its militaristic
tendencies – he had Quaker connections and was a pacifist. The Kibbo Kift
involved men and women of all ages, and had a complex set of rituals overseen
by Hargrave (a.k.a. White Fox) and other leaders (each with their own Kindred
name).
Among the objects displayed
in ‘Intellectual Barbarians’ are some examples of the costumes that were worn
at Kibbo Kift events, and the individualised totems that the members carried,
inspired in part by Native American customs and objects.
Another highlight of the
exhibition is the huge book known as the ‘kinlog’, in which the history of the
Kibbo Kift was recorded in the form of a chronicle. The story continues in the
kinlog through the 1930s, when Hargrave and other Kibbo Kifters were involved
in the ‘greenshirt’ movement which was associated with the Social Credit Party,
and the Second World War, finally ending with the death of Hargrave in 1982.
Above: The ‘kinlog’, which told the story of the Kibbo Kift,
on its ceremonial table, on display in the Whitechapel Gallery exhibition
What, you might ask, has
this got to do with pageants? Well, two things. Firstly, the nature of the
exhibition. The Whitechapel Gallery has a tradition of staging exhibitions that
are inspired by earlier exhibitions on the same theme. In this case, there was
a big show in 1929: the ‘Kibbo Kift Educational Exhibition’, which – in the
words of the current exhibition’s press
release – ‘showcased the group’s ambitions and their remarkable body of
visual art’. The current exhibition is less ambitious than the 1929 event, of
which there are photographs on display, but in a way it is participating in the
tradition of re-enactment of which pageants are a part.
Above: Flyer for the 1929 exhibition, on display at the 2015
exhibition.
Secondly, the Kibbo Kift
meetings resembled pageants in that there was a lot of dressing-up. Many of the
pictures of these events look a bit like pageants, and it appears that the
participants approached them with the same mixture of solemnity and frivolity
that often characterised proceedings in pageant arenas. Some of the officers’
names – ‘Chief Ritesmaster’, ‘Chief Gleemaster’, etc. – also echo the roles
held by pageants leaders, such as ‘Mistress of the Robes’, ‘Master of the
Horse’, and so on.
Above: Costumed Kibbo Kifters in a pageant-esque procession,
with their individually designed totems (from the ‘Intellectual Barbarians’
exhibition).
The exhibition is curated
by Dr Annebella Pollen from the University of Brighton, and Dr Nayia Yiakoumaki
from the Whitechapel Gallery. ‘Intellectual Barbarians’ runs until 13 March
2016, and further details can be found at
http://www.whitechapelgallery.org/about/press/intellectual-barbarians-kibbo-kift-kindred/