In his first solo museum exhibition, Los Angeles-based conceptual artist Awol Erizku (b. 1988, Gondar, Ethiopia) focuses on pioneering American Muslim human rights activist El Hajj Malik El-Shabazz (Malcolm X) as a subject of personal inspiration and complex cultural significance. Awol Erizku: X is composed of new and recent works, including photographs, sculptures, works on paper, a film, and an installation of historic letters and archival materials. Together, they collectively convey the artist’s view of Malcolm X as a metaphorical prism of faith, masculinity, and transformation, and a key figure connecting the United States and Africa. Erizku posits his singular Afrocentric aesthetic, something he refers to as “Afro-esotericism,” as a means to link ancient mythology, diasporic tradition, and contemporary culture and to explore the expanded contours of Black spirituality, self-definition, and image making.
Awol Erizku: X is organized by SCAD Museum of Art and curated by Daniel S. Palmer, Chief Curator, SCAD. The CAAM presentation is organized by Cameron Shaw, Executive Director, CAAM.