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.

John Edmonds: A Sidelong Glance
Brooklyn Museum
200 Eastern Pkwy, Brooklyn, NY 11238, USA
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