Exhibitions
NEW AFRICAN MASQUERADES: ARTISTIC INNOVATIONS AND COLLABORATIONS
Frist Art Museum / 919 Broadway October 10, 2025 - January 4, 2026
Chief Ekpenyong Bassey Nsa, David Sanou, Sheku “Goldenfinger” Fofanah, Hervé Youmbi
New African Masquerades: Artistic Innovations and Collaborations highlights the stories of four contemporary masquerade artists, their motivations, artistic choices, and the patronage and economic networks with which they engage. Through the presentation of works of Chief Ekpenyong Bassey Nsa (Nigeria), David Sanou (Burkina Faso), Sheku “Goldenfinger” Fofanah (Sierra Leone), and Hervé Youmbi (Cameroon), the exhibition offers fresh research models for contemporary masquerade, bringing to the fore issues relating to restitution, ownership, and research ethics.
A collaboration between an international team of scholars and artists, this is the first major exhibition on contemporary West African masquerade artists to focus on individual creators rather than the typical presentation of masquerades as products of entire cultures, which undermines the nuanced and layered stories that individual artists and masquerades tell.
Organized by the New Orleans Museum of Art in partnership with Musée des Civilisations Noires (Museum of Black Civilizations), Dakar, Senegal
Image: David Sanou in the studio of André Sanou. Compromise Kimi Masquerade Ensemble honoring André Sanou (headpiece); the maker of the body requests anonymity. Commissioned for Fitchburg Art Museum in 2022. Courtesy of the New Orleans Museum of Art. Photo: Sesthasak Boonchai
