Ethics & Methodology

How did these masquerade ensembles come to be in this exhibition?

Eleven of the ensembles in this exhibition were newly commissioned and documented for this exhibition, and every artist featured in New African Masquerades consented to share these ensembles, set their prices, and collaborated on the display and text. In this way, the curatorial team sought to highlight transparency and to offer more ethical ways to work with, pay, and express artist voices and ultimately, to honor African interpretations and reception of masquerade. Such an approach offers broad insights into changing collecting and museum practices today.

Beyond the newness of the masquerade ensembles themselves, the “new” in the exhibition title has a deeper meaning and intentionality. For our collaborative team, the artists, and their communities, it also suggests new museglogies, new considerations of African creativity, and new ways of imagining, displaying, understanding, and researching masquerades and the underrepresented artists and communities that create them.

For more information on our collaborative process, commissioning model, and the ethical methodologies employed, we invite you to review our co-authored publication. An excerpt of the Introduction is freely available here.