In the arresting photographic portraiture of Black artist John Edmonds, Central and West African relics collide with people from Edmonds’s creative community. In Two Spirits, for instance, a man sits on a stool, his face concealed by the eerie superimposition of a beaked wood mask. In another image, a tug of war over a Baule carved statue poses a question about African art, its acquisition and appropriation by other cultures. “I hope this work can exist as a threshold for museums and other cultural institutions,” Edmonds says of his show, “to move forward with equity and repair.” —E.C.
The Arts Intel Report
John Edmonds: A Sidelong Glance
When
Oct 23, 2020 – Aug 8, 2021
Where
John Edmonds, “Two Spirits,” 2020. Courtesy of the artist and the Company © John Edmonds.