KWESI
ABBENSETTS
Tomorrow , You May Not See Me At All
By Claude Grunitzky
THE COLORED SIGNS , symbols and signifiers that are carefully — and sometimes symmetrically — embedded or superimposed on the faces in Kwesi Abbensetts ’ s models seem to point to the artist ’ s own understanding of illusion . These images , from his series The Masking : Super Powers , are all about transformation , or rather photography ’ s power to transcend reality by transforming and ennobling certain people who are chosen as subjects precisely because they bring a new set of imaginations to the ancient art of representation .
Whatever odyssey he might be on , Abbensetts treats his model as a co-creator of stories , of long-forgotten histories . It might be a story about hybrid identities , and how we sometimes choose to hide behind masks in order to shield ourselves from the unwanted gaze . Or it might be a story about how we often prefer to protect ourselves from the forces of immediate judgment . It can even be a story about refusing to conform , denying the observer the ability to perpetuate certain problematic norms about blackness .
Without hyping on the sociocultural , these black faces are quietly bringing the pulse back to classic black-and-white portraiture . They are part of an archeology that is taking place right now , all over the African diaspora , as a new generation of artists and image-makers decides to revisit and revise old-fashioned ( and often racist ) ideas of what black beauty is supposed to be . Because they give the viewer the option of looking the model in the eye , in addition to tracing the lines across the signs , Abbensetts ’ s stories are set against the hysteria surrounding why certain people seem to matter more than others .
In Abbensetts ’ s case , the answer is simple : Everyone matters , and no one really matters , because it ’ s all subjective anyway . The me you see today may not be the me you see tomorrow . And tomorrow , you may not see me at all , because I might choose to show you a new me that looks nothing like the me you thought you saw and knew . What really matters , the only thing that really matters , is how we choose to appreciate the souls of true Black folk . opposite : Kwesi Abbensetts # 7 , from the series The Masking : Super Powers , 2015 18 x 24 in .
10