When the Utah Museum of Fine Arts closed its doors in January 2016 to address needed building upgrades and repairs, its goals were to protect the collection, keep the community engaged, and create new experiences for visitors. Now reopened, one of those new museum experiences is a gallery devoted to African art. An example is this Kakungu mask (scroll down for full image in gallery), made of wood, raffia, and pigment, worn by male elders to keep away evil as they lead the nkandla initiation residence camps for young men in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The museum’s new exhibitions also include a Spencer Finch site-specific installation and a show that encourages visitors to create the art themselves. Come visit!
