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.