Born in Buguma, Nigeria, Sokari Douglas Camp received her art education at the Central School of Art and Design and the Royal College of Art, both in London, where she now lives and works. She has exhibited her sculptures not only in Britain and Nigeria, but in New York and Washington, D.C., several European countries, Japan and New Zealand. In this exhibition, she juxtaposes masks from the American Museum of Natural History and the British Museum with her recreation of the masquerade. She thereby questions the meaning of African art when it is seen isolated from its context in performance.

In Kalabari culture, as in many parts of Africa, women are not allowed to make masks or perform in masquerades. As a woman, Sokari Douglas Camp observes the masquerade from the perspective of the audience. Legend says that women were the first to touch spiritual forces that animate the masks. As an artist, Sokari Douglas Camp crosses the boundary between male and female domains, just as she blurs the boundaries between Africa and the West.

"The original idea behind the exhibition was to work with the British Museum's collection of artifacts as part of Britain's Celebration of Africa in 1995. I was overwhelmed by the things I saw in the museum storage: masks and stools and objects that looked sacred. After a few hours of this, I felt very disturbed. How could I touch these sacred objects as a woman and feel safe? I believe that masks are ceremonial objects, sacred and magical. Not knowing the true history of these objects that were in storage, I felt uncomfortable.

There are various elements I have noticed that make African objects real for me: a performer to wear the mask; costume/regalia to dress the performer; music -- drums and other percussion sounds; observers to form a human curtain to surround the arena. These elements are far away from most museum displays. In this exhibition, I wanted to capture and honor the costumed mask. To have a complete picture of masquerade from top to toe."