Curator Yasmin Sarnefors challenges the traditional boundaries of portraiture in the exhibition 'What Faces Do Not Say,' which features artists from Africa and its diaspora. Moving away from the expectation of physical resemblance, the show explores identity through ambiguity, memory, and the use of archives, landscapes, and abstract gestures. By presenting works that obscure or transform the human face, the exhibition highlights the psychological and political dimensions of how individuals are perceived and represented.
The exhibition is significant for its rejection of the 'fixed' identity often imposed on artists from the Global South, advocating instead for what Sarnefors calls 'opacity' and 'uncertainty.' In an era of constant digital surveillance and social media overexposure, this curatorial approach reclaims the portrait as a site of resistance and mystery. It shifts the focus from what a face reveals to what it deliberately hides, challenging viewers to engage with the complex, fluid realities of the human experience.