didactic purpose when exhibited alongside the contemporary art. With the exhibition’s emphasis on new media, the inclusion of the masks also underscored the long history of African artists’ engagement with various technologies. e cosmopolitan curatorial outlook of McClusky, Massaquoi, and the Fowler sta refreshingly expanded the crite- ria for who and what can be included in an exhibition. Although anchored by an art form tied directly to the conti- nent, “Disguise: Masks and Global African Art” provided examples of the far-reaching resonance of African art in a global contem- porary art world. e exhibition was accompanied by the catalogue Disguise: Masks and Global African Art, published by the Seattle Art , with contributions by the artists and curators ( pp. with color illustrations; . cloth).

R  W is a PhD student of modern their actions were recorded. Ogunji and 7 Brendan Fernandes (Kenya/ and contemporary African art in the Depart- her collaborator’s own bodies and female Canada, b. 1979) ment of Art History at the University of Cali- Neo Primitivism 2 (2007–14) fornia, Los Angeles. rebwol @ucla.edu identities, however, remained hidden. In Installation with plastic masks, deer the gallery installation, footage from both decoys, and vinyl spears, dimensions cameras played on two screens, showing both variable, loan from the artist masks’ perspectives simultaneously. e suits Photo: courtesy of the artist, © were displayed alongside the videos, allowing Brendan Fernandes visitors to inspect their stitched neon carto- graphic designs. Located next to the Egungun Disguise: Masks and Global photographs and seated masks, the two installations made for a thought-provoking African Art and visually stimulating pairing. Museum, Also concerned with challenging mas- an attempt to feature a deracialized and April 29–September 18, 2016 querade’s traditional gender dichotomies, de-gendered performative body within the artist Zina Saro-Wiwa began an all-female landscape. reviewed by Christopher Richards masquerade troupe in her native Ogoniland Dance was also foregrounded in Brendan in Nigeria’s Niger River Delta. Her video Fernandes’s As One (), in which two ballet At the Brooklyn Museum’s iteration of “Dis- triptych e Invisible Man: e Weight of dancers interacted with displayed African guise: Masks and Global African Art,” I was Absence () (Fig. ) depicts troupe mem- masks, including examples from Bobo and struck by the presence of silence. Not of the bers performing a series of emotive facial Kuba masquerade. Fernandes brought these space itself, which vibrated with the sounds of expressions, as well as a hulking Janus-faced European and African “classical” perfor- electronic beats fused with African percussive mask designed by Saro-Wiwa. is powerful mative traditions together, but while the instruments via Emeka Ogboh’s Egwutronica work invokes the painful experience of loss dancers enacted deference to the masks in the () but of the visitors. Silence: the sound of and absence, whether of her father Ken Saro- style of French ballet, the masks themselves contemplation. roughout the exhibition, Wiwa (executed by the Nigerian government remained static in their museum setting. e visitors seemed completely engaged and in  for his activism against human and quiet elegance of this video contrasted with contemplative, suggesting that the diverse environmental exploitation), Saro-Wiwa’s Fernandes’s tongue-and-cheek installation artworks on display deeply resonated with own absences from her homeland, or the Neo Primitivism  (–) (Fig. ), compris- the public and that one of the exhibition’s historical obstruction of Ogoni female ing another mash-up: a herd of plastic deer goals proclaimed on a wall text, “to reconnect creativity. decoys wearing fake African masks. Allocated masks and bodies with performance in order Jacolby Satterwhite’s videos were installed a large installation space within the exhibi- to address twenty- rst-century issues,” was next to Saro-Wiwa’s works, a proxim- tion, Fernandes’s included works spanned his undoubtedly achieved. Not only were masks ity that prompted a surprising dialogue. practice, addressing masks, authenticity, and and performances embodied through the Drawing from family history and memory, appropriation. exhibition, but the “bodies” of visitors them- Satterwhite digitally rendered his moth- For the participating artists in “Disguise,” selves were able to establish intellectual and er’s inventive drawings to create the -D masquerade was not merely an art form, personal connections to these varying forms environment of his animated video Country but a multivalent artistic approach through of African art. Ball – . Bodies, some of them Sat- which they could explore a variety of themes e exhibition was installed on the h terwhite’s, vogue or repeat basic movements and topics. Visually engaging and accessible oor of the museum, in the space frequently within a darkly fantastical virtual dance to the student viewership of a university used for temporary exhibitions. African art party. In other videos, Satterwhite’s voguing , the masks from the Fowler’s curator Kevin Dumouchelle did a spectac- gure is covered by a full body catsuit, in collection on view served a contextual and ular job ensuring that the space, although

african arts AUTUMN 2017 VOL. 50, NO. 3 Downloaded from| http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/AFAR_r_00363 by guest on 01 October 2021 (right) 8 “Becoming Artifacts,” Brooklyn Museum, with an unusual gelede mask in the foreground.

(below) 9 “Becoming Another Body,” Brooklyn Museum, featuring (from left to right) a Gbetu helmet mask with raffia costume (early to mid- 20th century) a Nick Cave Soundsuit (2008), and an Egungun dance costume (mid-20th century).

all photos in this section by Christopher Richards

familiar, felt entirely new and refreshed. “Disguise” included works from twenty- ve contemporary artists as well as historical African masks and masquerade costumes. Dumouchelle adeptly enhanced the exhi- bition by adding thirty-one historical and contemporary artworks that came largely from the museum’s permanent collection, including additional photographs from Zina Saro-Wiwa’s Men of the Ogele: e Whirl- wind Series (–) and artworks by Adejoke Tugbiyele, Nick Cave, and Toyin Ojih Odutola. “Disguise” was divided into six thematic areas: “Becoming Artifacts,” “Becoming Another Body,” “Becoming Controlled,” “Becoming Another,” “Becom- ing Again,” and “Becoming Political.” ese themes were used to group artists and art- works into “rooms,” allowing the narrative is actively addressing an array of twenty- rst and singularly hung on muted walls. e to gradually unfold and be shaped by how century topics, including feminism, technol- far wall of the gallery was covered with an visitors chose to explore the exhibition. e ogy, and queer identity. enlarged historical photograph of African premise of the exhibition was to interro- Before engaging with the artworks that masks on “exhibit,” alluding to the prob- gate and challenge our understanding of formed the body of the exhibition, visitors lematic roots of contemporary curatorial masks and masquerades by illustrating their entered the “Becoming Artifacts” gallery practices. In addition to the introductory continued signi cance in a contemporary (Fig. ), which served as an introduction wall text, this room provided glimpses of context. e selected artworks were as and a guide to the rest of the exhibition. An the exhibition’s overarching themes. A key diverse as the artists’ themselves, result- assortment of masks was displayed using element of this gallery was to question our ing in a complex presentation of a globally expected and “canonized” methods: placed understanding of “historical” in relation to connected and ever-changing continent that on large platforms, oen under vitrines, nineteenth and twentieth century masks; as wall text explained: “masquerade is to some extent always ‘new.’ Each performance varies in response to changes in setting, music, costume, audience, and the perform- ers’ movements.” is point was of critical importance, but by relying on established exhibition practices, I felt the messages of “newness” and “variability” in relation to masks were slightly contradicted by the methods of display. Transitioning from this smaller space to the main hall of the exhibition, visitors were immediately confronted by three dazzling ensembles: a Nick Cave soundsuit, a Gbetu mask with accompanying raa costume, and an Egungun costume, frozen in mid- swirl. ese costumes, accompanied by Alejandro Guzman’s costume/sculpture/ altar and photographs by Edson Chagas and Ike Ude formed the section “Becoming Another Body” (Fig. ). In each artwork, the subject or wearer of the costume is partially or completely obscured from view, illustrat- ing how by concealing and revealing various parts of the human form, speci c narratives

VOL. 50, NO. 3 AUTUMN 2017 african arts  Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/AFAR_r_00363 by guest on 01 October 2021 | 10 The works of Walter Oltmann in “Becoming Another,” Brooklyn Museum, including Bristle Disguise (2014) (center) and Caterpillar Suit II (2007) (far right).

speci c and recognizable Sande society masks, amending them only by painting their surfaces with bright, neon colors (Fig. ). Academics are well aware of the social, cultural, and historical signi cance of these particular masks, information that was largely absent from Woolfalk’s installation; the contextual information that was pro- vided was relegated to a corner of the gallery, easily overlooked or ignored by visitors. In regards to Woolfalk’s use of the ndoli jowei, the question remains: Are they subtle and reexive allusions or blatant appropriations? Furthermore, when an artist reimagines an iconic and particularly potent form of African art, how much curatorial contextu- alization is necessary and appropriate? e nal spaces, “Becoming Again” and “Becoming Political,” addressed both the reinventions of masquerade forms and how masks can be used to critique established and institutionalized ideologies. I was and ideologies are powerfully invoked the corporatization of a hybridization pro- particularly taken by the work of Brendan and enacted. is “room” was particularly cess developed by the Empathics, what wall Fernandes, whose own identity as a Kenyan/ coherent in its juxtapositions, as one could text described as oering “its customers the Canadian/Brooklyn-based artist actively immediately discern the similarities and opportunity to try on new hybrid identities.” complicates expectations of African contem- inuences between the three ensembles. I was initially captivated by Woolfalk’s porary artists, attesting to their inherently Furthermore, the linearity of the soundsuit installation, hypnotized by the space and global identities. His artworks were humor- and the Gbetu ensemble were beautifully the work’s afro-futurist invocations, but stu- ous and thought-provoking. Fernandes’s contrasted by the extreme horizontality of dents from my African art history courses the Gelede. challenged me to interrogate Woolfalk’s use One of the strongest visual pairings was of the iconic Sande society masks. While part of “Becoming Another” and featured many of the gures were indeed amalga- 11 One of three reimagined ndoli the works of South African artists Nandipha mations of various cultures and histories, jowei from ’s instal- lation ChimaTEK: Virtual Chimeric Mntambo and Walter Oltmann. With the subtly hinting at their origins (some of the Space (2015). current surge of discussions regarding racial garments bore vague similarities to the his- inequalities in South and movements torical dress of samurai), Woolfalk directly 12 Detail of Brendan Fernandes’s like Rhodes Must Fall, placing a black and borrowed the forms and carving styles of From Hiz Hands (2010). a white South African artist “in conversa- tion” was particularly poignant. Mntambo’s use of “natural” cowhide served as a foil to Oltmann’s bristling metal sculptures; both artists’ creations made powerful statements regarding established conceptions of gender, race, and what individuals de ne as “Other.” Mntambo and Oltmann’s works seemed to radiate energy, as if the sculptural gures were indeed becoming living, “nonhuman” entities (Fig. ). As the third artist in “Becoming Another,” Saya Woolfalk’s installation ChimaTEK: Virtual Chimeric Space () was a favorite with visitors, particularly children, for its vivid and immersive qualities. Woolfalk’s static gures, the majority of which are cov- ered in a kalediascopic patchwork of colors and materials, are Empathics: a ctional group of women that Woolfalk describes as hybridized beings. As the latest iteration of an ongoing project, ChimaTEK focuses on

 african arts AUTUMN 2017 VOL. 50, NO. 3 Downloaded from| http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/AFAR_r_00363 by guest on 01 October 2021 From Hiz Hands () consisted of three book review seventeenth to the nineteenth century. e neon signs, modeled aer African masks content is divided into three parts: “Kongo from various ’ collections (Fig. in Africa,” “Kongo in the Americas,” and ). e accompanying text explained that “Kongo in Contemporary Art.” e cata- these ashing neon masks, “speaking” in logue oers a very broad view on Kongo their own secretive language, questioned heritage, but the essays are of varying quality notions of authenticity, alluding to the active and depth; some are written by researchers consumption of historical African art and who spent a lifetime investigating aspects the industry of mass-producing “African” of Kongo culture, while others who are less art and artifacts. It was clever and visually familiar with the region treat their subject arresting, an interrogation and subtle cri- more distantly. tique of our own eld. e rst essays treat the history and ere is an ongoing academic discussion of culture of the royal court at the capital how best to incorporate artists’ own thoughts Mbanza Kongo (in Angola) between the and perspectives into an exhibition, but “Dis- eenth and nineteenth century. Special guise” takes a de nitive stand: Allow the artists attention is devoted to the unique diplomatic and the curator, through wall labels, to speak relations between Kongo and Portuguese in tandem. is was one of the simplest, yet royal houses, stressing a period of equality most powerful curatorial decisions of the exhi- and exchange of both visitors and valu- bition, illustrating the importance of allowing able gis between royal houses. European artists to speak for themselves. For Nigerian Kongo across the Waters inuences and the special role of early artist Toyin Ojih Odutola’s drawing A Legless edited by Susan Cooksey, Robin European missionaries in Kongo society Bird ... (; part of the section “Becoming Poynor, and Hein Vanhee impacted spiritual life and resulted in a Controlled”), Odutola’s personal reections syncretic culture reected in ritual objects on “becoming black” in America and her Gainesville: University Press of and in nobles’ regalia, such as the well- philosophical considerations of blackness and Florida, 2013. 458 pages, 205 known cruci xes and the mbele a lulendo whiteness were juxtaposed with a curatorial color ill. (including b/w originals), daggers. ese were locally produced yet discussion of racial classi cation and a brief 2 maps, bibliography, index. modelled aer European objects and took on interpretation of Odutola’s work. Ike Ude’s $100.00 cloth speci c local meanings and uses. e scope explanation in wall text of his photograph is gradually enlarged from the elite culture Sartorial Anarchy  () is simultaneously to include some aspects of wider society, reviewed by Vicky Van Bockhaven poetic and relatable: “my clothes and accesso- focusing especially on spiritual life embod- ries are precisely akin to a painter’s palette, and ied in minkisi and on revivalism in Kongo e catalogue Kongo across the Waters my body, akin to the canvas.” By incorporating religion, in which therapeutic cults such as accompanied an exhibition at the Harn the considerations and explanations of par- lemba and life-cycle rituals such as khimba Museum of Art at the University of Florida in ticipating artists, the exhibition immediately played an important role to remedy social , which traveled to three other museums becomes more personal and approachable. I change, prevent crisis, and reinvigorate the in the US. e Royal Museum for Central applaud the curators for making this decision, universe. e trade of enslaved people is Africa in Tervuren, Belgium, joined with the as it adds an additional layer of signi cance to contextualized against its economic impetus Harn to realize these projects. Complement- a majority of the included works. and is connected to the heights and crises ing the Viva Florida  program, celebrating e exhibition’s introductory wall text of the Kongo kingdom over time. e rise  years of European presence in Florida in posits that “masquerade has historically and abolition of the Atlantic trade from the , the catalogue and the travelling exhibi- been a catalyst for public engagement with Loango coast between the seventeenth and tion claim to mark a milestone in the history the key issues of their time.” “Disguise” has nineteenth century is treated, including of African presence in North America, for shown that masquerade is also a catalyst for details on numbers, age, gender, and origins with the rst Europeans, the rst Africans engagement in a contemporary context; it is of the enslaved and causes of enslavement. also arrived. e book sets o discussing the the kind of exhibition that will continue to Attention is paid to particularities of the biographies of two African crew members foster all manner of healthy and necessary journey across the ocean and life histories of of the Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de conversations that will ultimately bene t the freed slaves. Leon who came ashore on La Florida in . elds of African art history and museum e catalogue’s second part, “Kongo in the It is emphasized that these Africans were studies. ere is much more that could be Americas,” is predominantly built up around free men, as opposed to many of the people discussed, but that is ultimately the mark of material and visual continuities, but some following in their footsteps, and may well a successful exhibition. attention is also paid to linguistic, musical, have been Kongo. Of course, the Kongo and culinary inuences. Kongo’s inuence kingdom is well historicized in Euro-African C R  is an assistant pro- is located within several kinds of objects, relations and its coast became a major hub for fessor of African art history and museum ed- either archaeological or folk, but also in sites the transatlantic trade in humans; approxi- ucation at Brooklyn College in New York. His such as graveyards, home yards, and other mately one fourth of Africans exported to the research focuses primarily on African dress, landscapes. Within home yard and land- US came from the Kongo. is caused Kongo fashion, and adornment from the nineteenth scape art this link may be mostly associative, culture to leave a considerable imprint on to the twenty-rst centuries. His rst exhi- but for many objects the Kongo accordance American traditions. bition on African fashion, “Kabas and Cou- is very substantial. In the rst part of the e catalogue deals in an extensive way ture: Contemporary Ghanaian Fashion,” was catalogue this became clear by comparing with Kongo history, culture, and arts, not held at the Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art in commemorative canes with Loango carved only in its region of origin at the West-Cen- Gainesville, Florida from February to August ivory tusks and Kongo wooden stas. In tral African coast, but also with Kongo 2015. [email protected] the second part of the catalogue such links heritage brought to the Americas from the

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