Monsieur Zohore
MZ.11 (Comédien Ivoirien)

Monsieur Zohore (b. 1993, Potomac, Maryland) is a Ivorian-American artist based in New York and Baltimore. His practice is invested in the consumption and digestion of culture through the conflation of domestic, quotidian labor and art production. Through performance, installation, and sculpture, his practices explore queer history alongside his Ivorian-American heritage. Zohore received his BFA from the Cooper Union in 2015 and his MFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2020. His work has been exhibited in numerous venues including Palo Gallery, New York; Terrault Gallery, Baltimore; New Release Gallery, New York; 56 Henry, New York; Canada Gallery, New York; 315 Gallery, New York and the 2020 Material Art Fair, Coyoacán, Mexico City. This piece, a still from his performance MZ.11 (Comédien Ivoirien), straddles comedy and critique as Zohore literally confronts the political, comedic and art historical relationship between the Black body and the bananas (or in this case plantains) being thrown at him. The print is offered as an extension of the video performance’s online exhibition at the Baltimore Museum of Art.