polyester fabric, raffia, leather; 2022. New Orleans Museum of Art. Museum purchase, Françoise Billion Richardson Fund.
COLLAGE ON VIEW
New African Masquerades: Artistic Innovations and Collaborations
at the New Orleans Museum of Art in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
4 April-10 August 2025
Sacred Mother Space Gallery Walk, let by LaVonna Varnado-Brown
Thursday, 26 June 2025, 11:15AM, part of Kolaj Fest New Orleans
Focusing on the work of four artists working in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone, “New African Masquerades: Artistic Innovations and Collaborations” offers a close look at contemporary West African masquerade.
Works on view by Chief Ekpenyong Bassey Nsa, Sheku “Goldenfinger” Fofanah, David Sanou, and Hervé Youmbi include 13 head-to-toe masquerade ensembles created for social, spiritual, entertainment, and museum contexts.
61.75″x23.5″x9″; wood, pigment, fiber, beads, textile, glue, velvet and cotton fabric, silk embroidery, horse-hair; 2015–2023. New Orleans Museum of Art, Museum purchase, Robert P. Gordy Fund.
The first presentation of its kind, “New African Masquerades” offers a rare look into contemporary West African masquerade by contextualizing the works of individual artists within a range of social, economic, and religious practices and examining their networks of viewership and exchange. Made from materials including wood, cloth and fabrics, sequins, feathers, gourds, raffia, and cowry shells, the ensembles on view represent a wide variety of masquerade practices and societies.
Organized in partnership with the Musée des Civilisations noires, New African Masquerades will travel in parallel tours of North American and African venues. The exhibition is supported by major planning and implementation grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts.
(text adapted from material provided by the museum)
INFORMATION
New Orleans Museum of Art
1 Collins C. Diboll Circle
City Park
New Orleans, Louisiana 70124 USA
(504) 658-4100
Hours:
Tuesday, Thursday-Sunday, 10AM-5PM
Wednesday, Noon-7PM