Exhibitions. Disguise: Masks and Global African Art.

Masks Brooklyn Museum
Leonce Raphael Agbodj, “Untitled, Egungun Series”

Disguise: Masks and Global African Art, a new exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum, takes a critical look at the way that masks have historically been used and depicted in African art and how they manifest in contemporary art of the diaspora.

Disguise: Masks and Global African Art connects the work of twenty-five contemporary artists with historical African masquerade, using play and provocation to invite viewers to think critically about their world and their place within it. By putting on a mask and becoming someone else, artists reveal hidden realities about society, including those of power, class, and gender, to suggest possibilities for the future.


Masks Brooklyn Museum
Zina Saro-Wiwa, “The Invisible Man”

Masks Brooklyn Museum
Nandipha Mntambo, 2008 Exhibition Print.

The contemporary artists featured include Leonce Raphael Agbodjélou (Benin), Nick Cave (U.S.), Edson Chagas (Angola), Steven Cohen (South Africa/France), Willie Cole (U.S.), Jakob Dwight (U.S.), Hasan and Husain Essop (South Africa), Brendan Fernandes (Kenya/Canada/U.S.), Alejandro Guzman (Puerto Rico), Gerald Machona (Zimbabwe), Nandipha Mntambo (South Africa), Jean-Claude Moschetti (France/Benin), Toyin Ojih Odutola (U.S.), Emeka Ogboh (Nigeria), Wura-Natasha Ogunji (U.S./Nigeria), Walter Oltmann (South Africa), Sondra R. Perry (U.S.), Jacolby Satterwhite (U.S.), Paul Anthony Smith (Jamaica/U.S.), Adejoke Tugbiyele (U.S./Nigeria), Iké Udé (U.S./Nigeria), Sam Vernon (U.S.), William Villalongo (U.S.), Zina Saro-Wiwa (U.S./U.K./Nigeria), and Saya Woolfalk (U.S.).

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.

The exhibition presents contemporary work in dialogue with historical objects from the collections of the Seattle Art Museum and the Brooklyn Museum within an immersive and lively installation of video, digital, sound, and installation art, as well as photography and sculpture.


Masks Brooklyn Museum
Nick Cave, “Soundsuit”

Masks Brooklyn Museum
Iké Udé, “Sartorial Anarchy”

Masks Brooklyn Museum
Brendan Fernandes, From Hiz Hands: 1979.206.143

Disguise: Masks and Global African Art is currently on view at the Brooklyn Museum from April 29 to September 18, 2016.