At the Brooklyn Museum's iteration of “Disguise: Masks and Global African Art,” I was struck by the presence of silence. Not of the space itself, which vibrated with the sounds of electronic beats fused with African percussive instruments via Emeka Ogboh's Egwutronica (2015) but of the visitors. Silence: the sound of contemplation. Throughout the exhibition, visitors seemed completely engaged and contemplative, suggesting that the diverse artworks on display deeply resonated with the public and that one of the exhibition's goals proclaimed on a wall text, “to reconnect masks and bodies with performance in order to address twenty-first-century issues,” was undoubtedly achieved. Not only were masks and performances embodied through the exhibition, but the “bodies” of visitors themselves were able to establish intellectual and personal connections to these varying forms of African art.
The exhibition was installed on the fifth floor of the museum, in the space frequently used for temporary...