Untitled (Carnival Masquerade) working title
Untitled (Carnival Masquerade) working title
Untitled (Carnival Masquerade) working title
Untitled (Carnival Masquerade) working title
Untitled (Carnival Masquerade) working title
These new sculptural masquerades developed by Forbes emerge from 12 Stations of the Masquerade and maintain a direct dialogue with his photographic series Carnival… beyond the glitz of the parade. For Forbes, these works actively mirror and refract one another, creating an intentional conversation across media. Together, they form a contemporary exploration of black and British existence, with wider global implications, grounded in a deep awareness of the historical legacies that shape and inform the practice. This historical consciousness becomes foundational to his engagement with constructions of blackness and whiteness within the sculptural forms he is currently developing.
In these sculptural works, Forbes employs materials consistent with those used across his broader practice; African masks & figures, coloured wigs, christ like figures, expanding foam, black plastic wrap fabric, mannequin limbs and the plinth. Each of these elements has been discussed in detail across his earlier bodies of work, and their reappearance signals both continuity and conceptual expansion.
This evolving body of work represents a deliberate convergence of two distinct yet interconnected strands within Forbes’ practice. Both draw upon the Masquerade, a cultural form originating in African village traditions that has undergone continuous transformation across generations. Its evolution has persisted despite forced migration, enslavement, colonialism, imperialism, and subsequent diasporic movements to the Caribbean, the Americas, and Europe. The work also engages with the European masquerade, which itself derives from African masquerade traditions but has been shaped by the observance of Lent and its associated religious connotations.
Untitled (Carnival Masquerade) working title
Untitled
Untitled (LV Head) working title
This body of work has been in development for several years, though it remains an ongoing aspiration to develop it fully as a series of sculptural works on plinths. It draws on the influence of Forbes’ earlier works with counterfeit handbags and African sculptural figures and artifacts. In sourcing the bags and figures, Forbes travelled across Europe, purchasing both handbags and African figures and masks from African migrants in various markets or on the streets of Venice, Naples, Rome, and Brussels. In doing so, the work engages with Forbes’ broader narrative on migration within European and African contexts. The sellers often live precarious existences of poverty, needing to navigate police surveillance and the risk of arrest or confiscation of their goods, which could leave them in debt or facing deportation.
For the heads and masks contained within the bags, Forbes was inspired by an incident in which one of the sculptural figures was accidentally broken in transit. This event prompted him to reflect on whether he was desecrating his cultural heritage. Once he resolved this ethical concern, he recognised that the imagery on the bags was highly appropriate within the broader conceptual framework of the work.
The stained duvet and wig make a reference to poverty and homelessness, while also contributing to Forbes’s ongoing exploration of the idea that ‘everything is sculpture,’ a principle that has guided his practice since his time at the Royal College of Art, from which he graduated in 2020. The inclusion of counterfeit handbags links this piece to Forbes’s broader investigations into fashion and mannequins, which address complex narratives surrounding imitation goods and China’s influence in Africa, topics that appear throughout his portfolio and related writings.
The plinth serves as a significant component of the work and is examined elsewhere in Forbes’s practice, particularly regarding its relation to Carrara marble, the contrasting notions of blackness and whiteness, and the use of faux Carrara marble tiles, which introduce their own kitsch aesthetic. Ultimately, this piece forms part of a larger, evolving body of work.