Across West Africa, Indigenous communities mark holidays, rites, and sacred events with a remarkable variety of ceremonies ranging from dances to processions. These masquerade traditions incorporate meticulously carved masks and full-body costumes that often facilitate links between humans and the spiritual world. There’s evidence of masked customs dating back millennia, and today, artists continue the tradition of hand-hewn masks and ensembles in vivid colors and a wide array of materials—sometimes with a twist.
The exhibition New African Masquerades: Artistic Innovations and Collaborations, which opens at the Museum of Fine Arts St. Petersburg next month, celebrates contemporary creations by four artists: Chief Ekpenyong Bassey Nsa (Nigeria), David Sanou (Burkina Faso), Sheku “Goldenfinger” Fofanah (Sierra Leone), and Hervé Youmbi (Cameroon). Along with displays of some of their masks and full ensembles, visitors will be able to explore documentary photographs and videos of ceremonies and parades in addition to immersive multimedia experiences.
“Across many West African cultures, masquerade a broad range of artistic, social, spiritual, and civic traditions,” the museum says. “Encompassing sculpture, textiles, performance, music, movement, and community participation, these performance traditions continuously adapt to contemporary life.” Sanou’s geometric masks are bold and brightly painted, often paired with costumes made from colorfully dyed fiber. And one can even spot pop culture references in Youmbi’s “Tso Scream Mask,” for example, which coats the iconic visage from the Scream movie franchise with thousands of beads.
New African Masquerades is conceived as a dynamic exploration of the masquerade tradition’s collaborative and community-based practices, inviting viewers to a kind of reverie where time-honored heritage meets constant innovation. The show is organized by the New Orleans Museum of Art in partnership with the Museé des Civilisations noires in Dakar, Senegal. The exhibition opens on August 15 and continues through January 3, 2027, in St. Pete, Florida. Follow updates on the museum’s Instagram.
