Lengthy earlier than Judith Butler wrote concerning the performativity of gender, lengthy earlier than Man Debord wrote The Society of the Spectacle, lengthy earlier than the appearance of the web allowed for on-line avatars, there was masquerade. Loosely outlined as “a social gathering of individuals sporting masks and infrequently implausible costumes,” masquerade is a social follow with centuries of observable historical past. Whereas this exhibition does effectively to discover this deep and wealthy custom, the artists and artworks introduced are all up to date. On this manner, the title of this exhibition is sort of a misnomer. “New African Masquerades: Creative Improvements and Collaborations” is a bunch exhibition on the New Orleans Museum of Artwork that includes the work of Chief Ekpenyong Bassey Nsa, Sheku “Goldenfinger” Fofanah, David Sanou and Hervé Youmbi. By way of the presentation of immaculate and complex masquerade ensembles and recordings of their activations in efficiency, this exhibition vivifies an historic follow, displaying that masquerade is an inexhaustible wellspring of expression.
The exhibition’s most placing facet is the outstanding craftsmanship of masquerade ensembles—head-to-toe asemblages of supplies like fringe, sequins, hair, silk embroidery, velvet and beads. Taking any variety of kinds, they fully rework the human determine inside into one thing fantastical, clinging to the physique however by no means resembling it. It’s arduous to overstate the intricacy of every ensemble right here; each sq. inch of the vestments is supersaturated with texture and shade. Even introduced on static mannequins as they’re within the exhibition, they’re teeming with potential vitality. It’s of their activation that these ensembles really come alive.
On the rear of the gallery house is a small sq. alcove. Projected throughout three of the partitions is a efficiency of a pair of Kimi masks, created within the studio of André Sanou, at a masquerade in Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso, in 2022. The middle of the three projections comprises the 2 masks being activated, the performers twirling and sashaying throughout a mud courtyard. The projections on both aspect seize the viewers spectating the occasion, successfully implicating the viewer within the crowd regardless of our bodily and temporal distance from it. Because the performers dance, the true magnificence of those ensembles is revealed, permitting the pure movement of the masks and adornments to emerge. Whereas fascinating to look at, this efficiency additionally actualizes the performativity of identification central to up to date intersectionality discussions. For it’s not through static definitions that an identification is shaped, however by a fluid, ever-changing interplay of a number of parts. On this manner, masquerade is an embodied precursor to our up to date second, one arising lots of of years earlier than the primary students wrote about performativity.
Most intriguingly, one a part of the introductory exhibition textual content states that many of those ensembles wouldn’t have an attributed maker. That is by design, because the makers themselves deliberately forfeited the affiliation of their identify with the ensemble. This transfer, seen towards the backdrop of ardent individualism that capitalism engenders, appears counterintuitive. Why ought to an artist forgo claiming their handiwork? The reply lies once more in efficiency. Although every ensemble encompasses a distinctive building, the potential modes of activation are limitless, with every dancer manipulating the fits in their very own methods. In these, possession lies not within the bodily however in the best way it’s engaged, very similar to our identification is shaped not by our bodily make-up however by what we do with our our bodies. Right here once more, masquerade proves to be a forerunner to up to date notions of identification politics.
After we create a web-based username, construct an avatar for a online game or don our most interesting to attend a operate, are we masquerading? This exhibition would argue that we’re, and I’m inclined to agree. All through this exhibition, magnificent craftsmanship, public efficiency and selective anonymity are mainstays—as they’re for every of us when forming our identities. Reframing these up to date actions throughout the lexicon of masquerade historicizes and globalizes our actions, reminding us that we’re not so completely different in any case. And on this, there’s magnificence. Utilizing masquerade as a matrix, each day interactions change into dances, speech turns into music, writing turns into poetry and sounds change into music. Life, the exhibition suggests, is extra enchanting and fantastical if we embrace the language of masquerade.
“New African Masquerades: Creative Improvements and Collaborations” is at NOMA by August 10, 2025.
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