In 1979, Grace Jones had a mold made of her face, which was then used to produce realistic masks. She gave the masks out to colleagues and friends, and suddenly the Black star was everywhere. Looking back on those early days, curators Cédric Fauq and Olivia Aherne found the seed of an idea: the mask as a metaphor for multiplication, a way to address Jones’s various personae. She was both Jamaican and French, a top model and a nightclub act, feminine and masculine. Combining art, design, music, and fashion from over 30 contemporary and modern artists, this exhibition portrays Jones as a symbol, a sensibility, and a semiotician’s dream. —E.C.

Grace Before Jones: Camera, Studio, Disco
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Nottingham Contemporary / Nottingham / Art
Nottingham Contemporary / Nottingham / Art
Richard Bernstein, “Inside Gatefold for Muse,” 1979. The Estate of Richard Bernstein.
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