Frist Art Museum To Present FAHAMU PECOU: THIS FACE BEHIND THIS MASK BEHIND THIS SKIN

The Frist Art Museum will present This Face Behind This Mask Behind This Skin, a survey exhibition of recent works by interdisciplinary artist and scholar Dr. Fahamu Pecou, on view October 10, 2025 through January 4, 2026 in the Gordon Contemporary Artists Project Gallery. Organized by the Frist, the exhibition brings together three major bodies of Pecou’s work alongside the debut of his short Afro-Surrealist film The Store.

Pecou, whose practice bridges hip-hop, fine art, and popular culture, examines contemporary representations of Black identity and masculinity through painting, performance, and scholarship. Featured series include End of Safety, Real Negus Don’t Die, and We Didn’t Realize We Were Seeds. The exhibition also introduces Pecou’s new multichannel video installation, The Store, reclaiming corner-store culture as a gateway to Black sovereignty, memory, and futures.

“Leslie Hewitt is an extraordinary contemporary artist whose conceptual practice explores the complex ways in which we understand time, history, and context through photography, texture, and color. This exhibition marks a rare opportunity to experience three of her most significant ongoing series together, and we are proud to bring it to our visitors,” said Ghislain d'Humières, Kenneth C. Griffin Director and CEO of the Norton. [^1]

In Real Negus Don’t Die, Pecou pays tribute to influential African American figures such as Toni Morrison, Afeni Shakur, and Tupac Shakur. The series uses the Amharic word “Negus,” meaning “king,” as a nonbinary term reclaiming dignity and royal lineage. End of Safety challenges audiences to move beyond imposed narratives of Black identity, while We Didn’t Realize We Were Seeds reimagines Afrotropes—recurring visual forms in African diasporic culture—through new symbolic configurations.

The exhibition runs concurrently with New African Masquerades: Artistic Innovations and Collaborations in the Frist’s Ingram Gallery, offering audiences a complementary look at contemporary Pan-African performance and visual traditions.

Opening Conversation

Presented by Fahamu Pecou and Michael J. Ewing
Saturday, October 11, 2025 at 2:00 p.m. | Frist Museum Auditorium
Free for members; gallery admission required for not-yet-members

Exhibition Dates

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