We Come in Peace: MET rooftop display by Huma Bhabha

Source. Press release:  https://www.metmuseum.org/press/exhibitions/2018/huma-bhabha

On July 13^th, 2018,  I went to see “We Come in Peace”, the roof top display of a Pakistani American artist Huma Bhabha at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Huma is a Pakistani born artist from Karachi, who had studied in USA and settled in NY. Her interview on the display is at the end of this post.

There are two larger than life figures, like aliens occupying the roof of MET. On first glance, one seems god like, standing erect. The face looks like a sphinx and torso has large breasts. The other is prostate, like in sajda, almost in the direction of the standing figure. The face of the prostate figure is hidden in the ground, the whole body covered by what seems like a large black garbage bag. Only the clay-made hands on the ground in the front and a line of excreta in the back, looking like a tail, are evident otherwise.

What seems like one prostrating to the other, gradually look different. They both, it turns out, are expressions of death, suffering, exhausted by defiance, exploitation and being out of this world. They are somehow in this experience together, not one at the expense of the other. 

More on that, later---,

It was part of a tour one take with the artist. The series is called 'Artists on Artworks'. The artist takes you to various artifacts in the museum of her interest. Here Huma took us to four statutes, all influencing her own roof top display. She was accompanied by Shanay Jhaveri, the curator of the display at MET, who gave in depth details of the artifacts and their relationship to Huma's work.  He interviews her in the link at the bottom of this post.

The first one was a marble statue of 6^th century BC, It is a standing figure from Attica ,Greece. Influenced by Egyptian art, it is a young slender male figure with one step forward, as he is about to move. He is very symmetrical and face is poised. The statue marks the grave of a young Athenian aristocrat.

The second was a Togu Na female figure from Mali, carved out of wood. Here the bosom is exaggerated perhaps to emphasize the nurturing or the resolute power of a woman. These forked sculptured elements support a roof beam of Togu Na open-sided shelters where elder Dogan males sat and discussed important matters of the community.

The third is a crest Tsesah from Cameroon on Bamileke people. Made of wood, these were the larger than life face masks used at the time of coronation of a new king Fon, when the older one dies. One extraordinary feature of these collection of figures where the eyes are placed on the cheeks facing the heavens in the sky. It was perhaps used in the coronation rites.

The fourth was the bronze 'Head of a Woman', 1909 by Picasso. His signature cubism is displayed in the face. Walking around you realize that each angle gives you a different shape and meaning to the statute. It is claimed to be the likeness of his partner, Fernande Olivier.

And then we went to the roof top and see the work of the artist.

In her own words it is an expression of militarism and exploitation. Seeing these two figures, one erect and the other prostrating, in the backdrop of Central Park and the high-rises of the metropolis beyond that, gives it an out of this world experience; as if you are in a distant place, like a desert, looking at these images and the civilization is at the horizon, too far away.

Looking at these images again, the erect one, named 'We Come in Peace', perhaps taken from the first dialogue between aliens and humans, "We come to you in peace" in "The day the Earth stood still" by Robert Wise, is non-binary, a hermaphrodite, carrying physical manifestations of both genders. They have one step forward, as if in motion. The breasts are enlarged, making it as obvious as another part of the body. The face, in fact five faces, has the typical element of cubism and walking all around, you see the different Picasso influences. It also reminds of the all seeing Vishnu with multiple heads.

The prostate figure, Benaam, Urdu for nameless, perhaps depicts the nameless masses, who are in the process of dying, falling prostate, hands down and excreta is coming out the other end. One could not thing of a worse condition one can be in.

As a viewer one is entitled to derive one own interpretation of art. To me, it was the foreignness and out of place-ness of these two. They may have landed separately but are now here together. Benaam could be the nameless dying in the present day global wars, or could be the undocumented. They may be in a process of dying, but refuse to be invisible. The erect figure is mutilated, violated, but still stands tall and stands with five faces looking all around, as if bearing witness to what has happened and is happening. They brought their sufferings and stories to the house of power. There is a cry to be heard. The reference of the title implies as if these 'aliens' want to have a dialogue, but may still communicate in other ways. Their defiance and refusal to go away with the backdrop of Manhattan skyline, the ultimate symbol of the powerful is very striking. Could not think of a better contrast.

It was a trip worth taking on a Friday evening.

Artist's interview:

https://www.metmuseum.org/metmedia/video/collections/modern/huma-bhabha-roof-garden-interview