I will spatter the sky utterly: Romuald Hazoumè

August 29, 2023–May 26, 2024

Curated by Kymberly S. Newberry

Beninese artist Romuald Hazoumè’s masks memorialize people, places, and moments. Composed mostly of plastic gasoline containers and discarded materials, the masks are vouchers for reuse, resilience, and rebuilding. They speak to the fraught life of the Beninese men and women who have to navigate porous Benin-Nigeria borders as part of the illicit fuel trade in order to survive. This intimate exhibition presents a single mask by Hazoumè—Kawessi, 2013—in its context of environmental crisis and activism.

This exhibition is made possible by the Susan Davenport Page 1931 and Margaret Davenport Page Fales 1929 Art Fund.

Save The Date:

Join us for our first event “The Tragedies of History and the Triumphs of Art: Dr. Henry J. Drewal in conversation with Kymberly S. Newberry" on Wednesday, October 4 at 5:00pm in Gamble Auditorium. See our website for more information.

Relaunch Laboratory

August 29, 2023–May 25, 2025

Before fall 2026, MHCAM’s 150th anniversary, we are working to imagine new methods of display that broaden the stories we share and unseat traditional perspectives that have dominated museum practices for centuries. Greeting visitors as they walk in, Relaunch Laboratory is a working space for ideas and themes as we plan our new galleries. Showcasing a range of global art while making connections across time and place, this installation aims to elicit reflection and visitor feedback.

This exhibition is made possible by the Susan B. Weatherbie Exhibition Fund.

A New Installation: Art of the 20th and 21st Centuries Reimagined

August 29, 2023–May 25, 2025

This installation features strengths of our permanent collection—primarily American and European art, with several works by other international artists. Significant 20th-century developments such as photography, Surrealism, and abstraction reflect the changing viewpoints of a modern society, while more recent works shift between abstraction and figuration in a wide range of media. The installation also highlights how artists use non-art materials, deploying mass-produced and found objects to craft novel responses to living in the 21st century.