Presenting historic African objects alongside works by contemporary African artists, this exhibition seeks to explore the relationship between the canonical works of African art and contemporary practice. How have artists working today drawn on the materials and forms of their cultural heritage? Among the historic works, which represent nine different West and Central African cultures, are masks, figures and a masquerade dance costume; the six contemporary artists featured include the Ghanaian sculptor El Anatsui and Tahir Carl Karmali, who was born in Nairobi and lives in Brooklyn. Find out more from the Cleveland Museum of Art’s website.
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Egúngún masquerade dance costume (paka egungun) (c. 1920–48), Yoruba people, Nigeria. Brooklyn Museum
Earth Growing Roots (2007), El Anatsui. Photo: © El Anatsui; courtesy the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery
Mask (early 1900s), Yaka people, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Cleveland Museum of Art
Untitled (Jua Kali Series) (2014), Tahir Carl Karmali. © Tahir Carl Karmali
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