There’s a few weeks left to catch the RISD Museum’s small exhibit of Yorùbá costumes from West Africa. A quartet of elaborately layered pieces, they were created for dancers to wear at spiritual masquerades called Egúngún. (Three are on display in the gallery, while a fourth is laid out flat in the nearby textiles education room.) A video lends some context, but some additional background info would be helpful for those of us who don’t know much about Yorùbá religious ceremonies. To my completely untrained eye they recall Nick Cave’s soundsuits, disguising the human form through loudly colored fabrics.
(Apologies for the crappy video still. I still haven’t really adjusted to my new phone.)