Black Menagerie (Moon Mask)

Working with an array of media, William Villalongo directs his practice towards the re-evaluation of Western art history’s legacies. The English language version of his work’s title –Black Menagerie (Moon Mask)– refers to the practice of collecting and displaying objects and animals alike, alluding to its ties to the origins of naturalist classification systems and the latters’ links to eugenics. Villalongo incorporates elements of African material culture from Black and Moorish civilizations present in European collections to link Black Mediterranean and Black Atlantic histories. These reconfigured sculptures are intertwined with crystals, meteorites, snails, and butterflies. Symbolizing all the elements, the work bonds sky, sea, and land, pointing to a more ancient and rooted history of Blackness. By tracing constellations rather than classifying, Villalongo’s work breaks with the imperialist visual conventions of collecting and displaying.