In this photographic work, artist Awol Erizku disrupts conventional still lifes by highlighting Afro-Diasporic connections while exposing the problematic history of photography and race. The tableau includes an Akua Ba sculpture, a fertility figure by the Asante Peoples, next to a bottle of Aunt Jemima syrup which is next to a bust of the Egyptian Queen Nefertiti, a figure that appears in many of Erizku’s works. A single hand, present in several works in Elegies, is a leitmotif in the exhibition. The hand inserts a ColorChecker Color Rendition Chart into the frame, a tool for photographers which is supposed to be an index of colors found in nature and human attributes including skin. Placing these mass-produced objects next to each other points to the complicated impact the Black feminine form has had on art, history, and culture. ... On view in Elegies: Still Lifes in Contemporary Art @moadsf Image: Origin of Afro-Esotericism, 2018 By Awol Erizku @awolerizku #elegies #blackcontemporaryart #moadsf #moad #awolerizku #flowersforspringgroundbreaking