Sana Musasama: Returning to Ourselves

Throughout her career, Queens-based artist Sana Musasama has drawn inspiration from travel and research into global cultures.

Returning to Ourselves centers around a series of dolls that Musasama produced that mirror African-American topsy turvy dolls containing a white doll whose skirt can be flipped up to transform it into a Black doll.

Musasama uses this formal structure to juxtapose different figures drawn from the global Black diaspora. Returning to Ourselves is rounded out by a series of ceramic houses Musasama began early in her career but returned to during the pandemic to combat looming depression.

About the Artist

Sana Musasama is a ceramic artist whose work is informed by her global travels, and interests in women’s studies, and indigenous artistic practices. Musasama began traveling as a way to recover identity and cultural place. Clay was the geographical catalyst that first brought her to West Africa where she studied pottery with the Mende people in Sierra Leone (1974–75). Later venturing to Japan, China, Cambodia, and South America, she continued her quest, expanding her interests to tribal adornment practices. She is challenged by issues concerning women’s safety, specifically rituals involving rites of passage and female chastity. Musasama’s work can be found in the collections of the Studio Museum in Harlem, the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, and the Museum of Art and Design, among others.