Hasani Cannon

My artwork is influenced by traditional African mask carving and barber shop culture within the black community. African masks often serve as vehicles of transformation from boyhood into manhood within many African communities, and they aid in forming young men’s identities. Barber shops serve a similar role in black communities as a place of physical, mental, and spiritual transformation. Both practices and traditions serve in the formation of the male identity but especially within black culture. My work visually combines both practices to focus on the toxicity of masculinity that is reverberated within the African American community specifically. These visual cues include African iconography, popular clothing brands, jewelry, and other symbolically significant objects. The use of afro-centric imagery is influenced by artist Aaron Douglas whose philosophy was centered on using African art as the center of the artistic canon. I am also inspired by artists like Kerry James Marshall, who focus on the black figure as subject.