Image: Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, Florida
The Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg opens ‘New African Masquerades: Artistic Innovations and Collaborations’ to the public on 15 August 2026, and the exhibition remains on view through 3 January 2027. The museum is launching the run with a ticketed preview party on 13 August and a weekend of tours and talks.
‘Art After Dark: Preview Party’ runs Thursday 13 August from 5 to 8 pm and offers a first look at the show ahead of the public opening, with live Afrobeats from DJ Nilla Green, a complimentary signature spritz from Café Clementine with adult admission, and L’Apéro serving organic wines, local Green Bench beer and bites for purchase. Admission is $10 for members and $25 for non-members, free for visitors aged 17 and under.
The exhibition is organised by the New Orleans Museum of Art in partnership with the Musée des Civilisations noires in Dakar, Senegal, with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities. It centres on four masquerade artists — Chief Ekpenyong Bassey Nsa of Nigeria, David Sanou of Burkina Faso, Sheku ‘Goldenfinger’ Fofanah of Sierra Leone and Hervé Youmbi of Cameroon — examining their working methods, the patronage and economic networks they operate within, and how each adapts their genre to local and global change. The organisers frame the project as a challenge to the idea of the ‘anonymous African artist’ and to the assumption that masquerade is a static art form rooted only in the past.
Opening weekend continues on Saturday 15 August with a gallery tour from 9 to 10 am led by organising curator Dr Amanda M. Maples, priced at $25 for members and $35 for non-members, followed by ‘In Conversation: Dr Stanton Thomas and Dr Amanda M. Maples’ from 11 am to noon, which is free with admission but requires registration. Both sessions address the exhibition’s development and the evolving role of masquerade practices across West Africa.
