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Sanctuary

Aimé Mpane

(b. 1968, Democratic Republic of the Congo)

Titled Here we die, Aimé Mpane’s design for Sanctuary is based on one of his carved plywood portraits from a series of the same name. He creates these portraits with an ancient tool called an adze, which allows him to scrape away layers of wood and reveal his subject by reduction. Each panel is roughly twelve by twelve inches: the equivalent of a human head’s surface area. “Because my work deals with problems of race and the stereotypes of black people, the three layers within four-millimeter-thick plywood make me think of the three layers within human skin,” he explains. Despite the dark histories underlying his work, Mpane’s portraits are not somber: his embrace of bright color lends an air of inextinguishable hope and promise.

Projects

  • Overview
  • On View
  • Past
    • Sanctuary
      • Cornelia Parker
      • Tammam Azzam
      • Sanctuary Volunteer
      • Uman
      • Hank Willis Thomas
      • Miguel Angel Ríos
      • Rashid Rana
      • Ranu Mukherjee
      • Aimé Mpane
      • Julio César Morales
      • Meleko Mokgosi
      • Sanaz Mazinani
      • Hayv Kahraman
      • Emily Jacir
      • Alfredo Jaar
      • Shirazeh Houshiary
      • Thaier Helal
      • Susan Hefuna
      • Mona Hatoum
      • Sherin Guirguis
      • Jeffrey Gibson
      • Nicholas Galanin
      • Ana Teresa Fernández
      • Brendan Fernandes
      • Marcos Ramírez ERRE
      • Ala Ebtekar
      • Jamal Cyrus
      • Mohammad Bozorgi
      • Sandow Birk
      • Diana Al-Hadid
      • Ammar al-Beik
      • John Akomfrah
      • Ai Weiwei
      • Shiva Ahmadi
      • Arwa Abouon
      • Adel Abidin
      • Hamra Abbas
    • Home Land Security
    • @Large: Ai Weiwei on Alcatraz
    • Art About Place: FOR-SITE Foundation at the Presidio
    • International Orange
    • Presidio Habitats
    • The Marvelous Museum: A Mark Dion Project
    • Pae White: In Between the Outside-In
    • Chris Drury: Mushrooms | Clouds
    • Shi Guorui: Reproduction and Refashioning
    • Richard Long: The Path Is the Place Is the Line
    • New Work by Cornelia Parker
  • Virtual Tour: Andy Goldsworthy in the Presidio
  • Artist Programs

Artist Editions

  • Syjuco DSC_2956a copy
  • alfarrowmultiple
  • michelepredmultipleopen
  • trevorpaglen-challenge-coin_rdh_001

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Field Notes

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