This installation merges two forms of representation, the classic bust and symbolic portraiture, significant to African and other non-western cultures. Symbolic portraiture utilized the same object shape but present different people through size, attitude of the figure, attributes and inscriptions.
For this installation I created a head and torso mask through a phototransfer process on fabric. I used the same form but altered its size and added inscriptions pertinent to the sitter, be it images of tattoos, necklace, etc. These photographic busts are 3-dimensional, deconstructed and reconstructed photographs of friends and family. Placed over wire armatures and presented on pedestals, they emulate presentations of classical art and artifacts as well as present a revisionist history of representation.
The work is informed by the Greek and Roman Hall of busts and its close proximity to the African wing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Installation views at the X Havana Biennial in 2009.