2010
This work explores the dissemination of Western notions of an exotic Africa through the symbolic economy of "African" masks sold on Canal Street and on the streets outside museums in New York (the Whitney and Metropolitan, for example). The work plays on their contrasting relationship to the masks on display in the museums themselves. The exhibition examines the authenticity of these objects (the souvenirs on the street and the artefacts in museum collections) through pulsating neon masks. The pulsating neons seem to be trying to communicate with the outside world. Their pulses silently spell out morse coded demands about their own provenance. The installation also looks at the personal narratives of the mask sellers, drawing on the artist’s own migration from Kenya to Canada, in an audio piece which plays inside the space. Together, From Hiz Hands assembles a series of works that create a shared history of identity, origin and displacement.