BECCA MARTIN-BROWN

bmartin@nwaonline.com

It is impossible to see the world through Awol Erizku’s eyes — unless you were born in Ethiopia and raised in New York City’s South Bronx; unless you earned an MFA from the Yale School of Art; unless you revisited Ethiopia as an artist. But that’s fine with him. One of the foundations of his artwork is the parallax — the myriad perspectives from which it will be interpreted.

“Awol Erizku: Mystic Parallax” is finally on show at The Momentary in Bentonville, delayed by the tornadoes that swept through Northwest Arkansas May 26, and Erizku was in town June 28 to walk invited media guests through the exhibition. His first point? Although parts of the show have been seen elsewhere — and are captured in a monograph co-published by the Momentary and Aperture Magazine — this iteration of “Mystic Parallax” is unique and can only be made more so by the viewers who will see it.

“For me, I often get the chance to work with artists that have different backgrounds than my own,” says Alejo Benedetti, curator of contemporary art at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and The Momentary, who joined in the tour. “I’ve always tried to approach that as an opportunity to learn — especially with artists, whose work can help all of us see and experience the world around us in different ways, even when on paper we have the most similar of backgrounds. I think as long as you go into those experiences, projects, or in this case, exhibitions, with an open mind and an eagerness to listen, you’re in a good space.

“I think that’s also how I would recommend any viewer approach their visit to this exhibition,” he says. “Awol titled it ‘Mystic Parallax’ partially because he’s thinking about all the many, many, many perspectives and vantage points folks will bring to this show and his work — that’s embedded in his practice. There are going to be connections that guests make between works that are powerful and deeply meaningful, some that are surprising and esoteric, and others that folks may not connect with at all when they look at the show. That’s all good.”

Benedetti says even visitors just passing through the exhibit on their way to the Tower Bar “are going to be stunned and drawn into the show. Awol has a really incredible ability to make stunning work. He’s completely transformed the Momentary’s galleries, and I think whenever an artist can do that, it’s got an opportunity to pique interest in even the most unsuspecting visitor. I think that little entry point becomes an invitation to linger and ultimately dig in more deeply.”

Erizku is known for using music, popular culture and sports symbolism to create works that represent a uniquely Afrocentric aesthetic, and this show is certainly no exception. As Momentary Public Relations Manager Michelle Moore describes, the exhibition will feature a six-foot mirrored bust of Nefertiti casting a galaxy of shimmering light from the ceiling; an epic 75-foot collage wall displaying a mixture of iconic works, deep cuts, and never-before-seen photos from the artist’s career; and a new installation titled “Celestial Bloom,” which features a real Cessna 150 airplane, suspended in the air and overflowing with brilliant bursts of flowers streaming out of the cockpit and trailing off the tail of the plane.

“Afro-esotericism is like an encyclopedic index of ideologies, objects and people that I encounter,” Erizku told GQ in a 2020 interview. “This idea as seen in this show is Afro-esotericism as unmanufactured avant garde. It is using the origin of one’s history and one’s self and one’s identity as a central point to create something new.”

The mirrored bust of Nefertiti is a good example of the layers of meaning in Erizku’s artwork, Benedetti says.

“There’s that great moment early in the show with the small golden disco ball, followed shortly after by the 6 foot silver one in the tower section,” he describes. “Nearby there is a light box with girls dancing around a Nefertiti bust, then around the corner into the large space with the airplane, there is a photo of the actual bust in Berlin, one on fire on the wall, and on the facing wall, there is a light box of a bust in water.

“In the press walk, I thought Awol did a really stellar job of talking about the different ways in which his mind wandered from DJing to the disco ball to Nefertiti and how all of those seemingly disparate components stacked together to lead him to create the first Nefertiti disco ball head,” Benedetti goes on. “An object like those compresses time and place, and ultimately creates a really remarkable object that interacts with the surrounding space in a transportive way.”

Benedetti adds that Erizku has frequently talked about Nefertiti as “this really potent symbol that was stolen, transformed, and re-presented in different contexts, while taking great liberties with her identity. He’s talked about his continued work with the iconic image of the bust as a reclamation of that imagery.”

“I think Awol said it best, though, here,” Benedetti quotes. “‘The use of Nefertiti’s bust in my work is rooted in the concept of reclamation. Growing up, I was constantly reminded of how I looked and who I was. This led me to realize that identity itself can be a conceptual material for creating art. Nefertiti, with her captivating aura, became a figure I gravitated towards. While she is an Egyptian icon, her significance extends beyond ancient times. The original bust of Nefertiti resides in a Berlin museum, and Hollywood often depicts ancient Egyptians with Eurocentric features and mannerisms, contributing to the whitewashing of African sovereign states and their representations. I aim to challenge this by encouraging people to recognize Nefertiti and other significant Black African figures as Black first, before anything else. To me, her image serves as a direct signal of Black influence and a powerful counter against the continued whitewashing of her identity.’”

Arguably the most powerful images in the exhibition are photographic portraits of sex workers in Ethiopia, captured in classical poses of the reclining white female body.

“By consistently depicting these images with new subjects, maintaining the same positioning, and placing them within similar interiors, I aimed to emphasize, critique, and saturate new images with Black bodies, thereby challenging and subverting this recurring theme,” Erizku says.

“Erizku’s deliberate focus on the Black female body was a conscious effort to celebrate these women, countering Western art history’s tendency to default to white female nudes,” Benedetti adds.

“I’m interested in historical intervention,” Erizku told GQ. “And most importantly, a global Afropolitan perspective. I’m interested in the Black imagination and the wealth of history that being Black can afford us.”

__

FAQ

‘Awol Erizku: Mystic Parallax’

WHEN — Through Oct. 13

WHERE — The Momentary in Bentonville

COST — Free

INFO — themomentary.org

FYI — The artist’s monograph, co-published by the Momentary and Aperture, is available in the museum store, and visitors are directed by Alejo Benedetti to “texts scattered throughout the exhibition — mixtures of direct quotes from Awol and third-person texts that are informed by how Awol talks about the artworks.”