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Preview image of work. mixed media (plastic, animal fur, hair, cowrie shells, beads), paper, shipping crate, photograph, film,  Two Faced (Double Visage), Faces of Mask (Visages de Masques) series 38374

2019.26.a.-.d

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Two Faced (Double Visage), Faces of Mask (Visages de Masques) series

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Artists

Alassane Mfouapon ; Marie Kouam ; Frédéric Feudjeueck ; Hervé Youmbi (Hervé Gabriel Ngamago Youmbi) (angui, Central African Republic, 3/25/1973 - )

Title

Two Faced (Double Visage), Faces of Mask (Visages de Masques) series

Creation Date

2015-2017

Century

early 21st century

Dimensions

variable

Object Type

mixed media

Creation Place

West Africa, Cameroon

Medium and Support

mixed media (plastic, animal fur, hair, cowrie shells, beads), paper, shipping crate, photograph, film

Credit Line

Museum Purchase, Lloyd O. and Marjorie Strong Coulter Fund

Copyright

This artwork may be under copyright. For further information, please consult the Museum’s Copyright Terms and Conditions.

Accession Number

2019.26.a.-.d

Interested in challenging notions of authenticity, contemporary artist Hervé Youmbi recalls witnessing a funerary dance in Cameroon where participants wore mass-produced North American masks. In response, Youmbi produced contemporary masks in collaboration with other artists. They took a well-recognized mask from the Scream film series and added a crown of horns, dreadlocked coiffures, and cowrie-studded surfaces—visual elements commonly seen in Yegue masks from Ku’ngang, a religious society among Bamiléké people in Cameroon. Youmbi includes the mask’s shipping crate with transport documentation in the display to highlight the mask’s movements. At the artist’s direction, the mask could travel back to Cameroon for future performances if warranted. With each move, the mask’s status fluctuates between contemporary art, performance, and ethnographic artifact, raising questions of the identity of this work and the role of “ethnographic” practice in contemporary art. Accompanying this label are two texts about the work prepared by the artist himself.

Object Description

Mixed / Multimedia installation including:
1. Bamiléké Yegué Scream Mask, 2015 - 2017
wood, hair, beads, hide, pigment and cloth
2. Visages de masques II.
Video. Duration: 3:45.
dimensions variable.
Ed: 1 + 1 AP
3. Shipping crate
wood, metal hardware.
dimensions variable.
4. Field photograph.
Fine Art pigment print on Epson Hot Press Cotton Rag 330 gsm Paper
38 cm x 48.3 cm / 15” x 19”
Edition: 5 +2 AP

PER AXIS GALLERY:
Hervé Youmbi
Two-faced / Double visage, 2015-2017
Series: Visages de masques (II)
Multimedia installation including:
Bamiléké Yegué Scream Mask, 2015 - 2017
wood, hair, beads, hide, pigment and cloth
Visages de masques II
Video. Duration: 3:45.
dimensions variable.
Ed: 1 + 1 AP
Shipping crate
wood, metal hardware.
46 ?” x 22 ?” x 22 ?”
Field photograph
Fine Art pigment print on Epson Hot Press Cotton Rag 330 gsm paper
38 cm x 48.3 cm / 15” x 19”
Edition: 5 +2 AP