Further explore the exhibition’s themes of semi-visibility through a slow-looking exercise related to this work.

Transcript
Narrator: A vibrant lime-green color, punctuated by a framework of fluorescent bulbs along the ceiling, saturates the gallery and bathes Sandra Mujinga’s "Spectral Keepers" in an eerie light.

As visitors adjust to the hazy lighting, they are faced with four imposing figures almost 9 feet tall. The endless green color acts as a concealer while adding to their mysterious and otherworldly presence. Created in 2020, Mujinga has called these figures “Keepers,” naming them Mísató, Mítáno, Mínei, Míbalé. They stand at attention—each generally facing toward the gallery entrance but oriented in slightly different directions—like sentinels with longer-than-life limbs and elongated heads, and yet their bodies and skin remain entirely concealed, shrouded by fabric.

They wear hoods pulled up and gathered tightly so their faces remain in shadow. Further wrapped in loose-fitting fabric, as if draped over a scarecrow frame, their shirts are bunched in sections and tied in areas with nylon thread, with sleeves extended below their waists. Their pants wrap around thin thighs, which extend to cover thick calves and feet created from slabs of cellular concrete, which aren’t visible but stabilize their tall bodies. They are entirely encased in sheer tulle fabric, creating a gauzy overlay tightly sewn around their head and torso, then loosely bunched and gathered at their legs.

Placed on the floor beside each figure is a basket. Elongated and opening at one end like a wide cornucopia in the shape of a gramophone horn, the four baskets lay on their sides, ranging in size from about 2 or 2 1/2 feet long by almost 3 feet in diameter at the opening. Their gaping openings, facing outward toward visitors entering the gallery, create a counterpoint to the faceless figures looming nearby.

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