"Ceremony for Freeway Fets.” Performance in collaboration with David Hammons, Maren Hassinger, and Studio Z members, Pico Boulevard, Los Angeles,

1978, printed 2018

Ceremony for Freeway Fets consists of photographic and textual documentation of a 1978 performance by Nengudi in collaboration with David Hammons, Maren Hassinger, and members of Studio Z artist collective at Pico Boulevard in Los Angeles. This “environmental sculpture” took place under a highway overpass in response to a recently launched initiative by the city to create public art for overpasses and streets. Incorporating elements of Japanese dance theater and West African Yorùbá masquerade, Nengudi, Hammons, and Hassinger channeled masculine and feminine energies to a soundtrack of free jazz. Nengudi created costumes for the performance, including headdresses made from pantyhose. She later reflected, “I wanted it to be a culmination of what I was interested in at the time, which was performance, dance, ceremony and ritual.”