LIFESTYLE
Brooklyn Museum Reimagines Traditional African Masks
Artists the world over first began using aluminium as a medium in the 19th century.
16 August, 2016
A new approach to African art currently on exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum in New York is all about identity.
"Disguise: Masks and Global African Art" is an expansion and reiteration of a previous exhibit at the Seattle Art Museum. The show features 25 different artists in an exploration of traditional African masks, juxtaposing historical artifacts against contemporary materials and expressions that include aluminium, neon and glass and inkjet printing, along with multimedia options for presentation that include video, digital, and sound – and other art forms including sculpture and photography.
While the incredibly wide range of artwork on display can be a lot to take in, there's a powerful and exciting premise that underlies the project.
While the incredibly wide range of artwork on display can be a lot to take in, there's a powerful and exciting premise that underlies the project.
Images: Brooklyn Museum
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Masks have long been used by African artists to define relationships―between individuals, communities, the environment, or the cosmos―and, sometimes, to challenge the status quo. However, once masks were removed from their original performance context, they were transformed into museum objects, and their larger messages were often lost.
Image: Artsy
What the show reclaims is, arguably, the distance between art and artifact. Rather than treating the African mask as an anthropological moment, the art form is brought back to life and placed in pulsing articulation with historical objects that complement the messages modern artists are creating.
Participating artists come from a diverse array of African nations: Benin, Angola, Zimbabwe and Kenya among them. They include South African artist Walter Oltmann, who created "Razor Brush Disguise". The piece is made of aluminium wire designed to create a razor-brush being, with touches of razor wire wrapped into the explosion and energy of the sculpture.
The Brooklyn Museum offers an interactive app to ask questions, and and visitors can learn (among other things) that Oltmann chose the wire to recall the apartheid era in South Africa and the painful history of segregation. The bristles express the way in which protection keeps us safe, but at the cost of keeping other things at arm's length – the inevitable trade-off for safety. At the same time, they have a seductive appeal. The metal weaving, Oltmann says, places traditional Zulu folk art at the center of the story, all while using modern aluminium in the design.
Participating artists come from a diverse array of African nations: Benin, Angola, Zimbabwe and Kenya among them. They include South African artist Walter Oltmann, who created "Razor Brush Disguise". The piece is made of aluminium wire designed to create a razor-brush being, with touches of razor wire wrapped into the explosion and energy of the sculpture.
The Brooklyn Museum offers an interactive app to ask questions, and and visitors can learn (among other things) that Oltmann chose the wire to recall the apartheid era in South Africa and the painful history of segregation. The bristles express the way in which protection keeps us safe, but at the cost of keeping other things at arm's length – the inevitable trade-off for safety. At the same time, they have a seductive appeal. The metal weaving, Oltmann says, places traditional Zulu folk art at the center of the story, all while using modern aluminium in the design.
Nigerian artist Adejoke Tugbiyele also uses wire and metal in his sculpture, "Homeless Hungry Homo," as well as incorporating palm stems, wood and the paper of U.S. dollar bills. The work both reveals and conceals the human face of suffering – and indicts America for masking its own face from that hurt.
Many of the artists create modern African masks that keep a traditional sense of the art form. Not so with "The Invisible Man," created by Zina Saro-Wiwa. The artist, who divides her time between Brooklyn and Nigeria, created a mask that defies the masculine tradition of mask ritual and dance by placing her mask on the body of a dark-skinned woman in a ruffled dress who appears to struggle with its weight – or perhaps the tension between wanting to keep it and needing to remove the suffocating sarcophagus.
Many of the artists create modern African masks that keep a traditional sense of the art form. Not so with "The Invisible Man," created by Zina Saro-Wiwa. The artist, who divides her time between Brooklyn and Nigeria, created a mask that defies the masculine tradition of mask ritual and dance by placing her mask on the body of a dark-skinned woman in a ruffled dress who appears to struggle with its weight – or perhaps the tension between wanting to keep it and needing to remove the suffocating sarcophagus.
As in the case of "The Invisible Man," some of the African masks are all the more evocative when visitors appreciate the narrative that informs and infuses the physical art. Saro-Wiwa's mask design, rendered in a pigmented inkjet print but also in video, reflects on her father's execution for his work as a human rights activist.
The themes of identity and relationship expressed in the masks address difficult questions and issues, but lead to more questions. "Disguise: Masks and Global African Art" runs through 18 September at the Brooklyn Museum in New York City.
The themes of identity and relationship expressed in the masks address difficult questions and issues, but lead to more questions. "Disguise: Masks and Global African Art" runs through 18 September at the Brooklyn Museum in New York City.
Banner image: Zina Saro-Wawa, The Invisible Man (detail), 2015.