Awol Erizku’s series of bronze sculptures, each housed within a custom-built safe, marks the artist’s first use of bronze, a material historically associated with permanence, power, and institutional value. In this series, Erizku combines the bust of the 18th Dynasty Egyptian Queen Nefertiti with various symbolic objects. The decision to encase each work in a vault-like structure underscores concerns around ownership, protection, and access. Erizku directly references the contested status of the original bust of Nefertiti by Thutmose, a work of limestone and stucco made around 1345 B.C., currently held in Berlin’s Neues Museum.

Each sculpture reimagines the queen’s head merged with a symbolic form: a scorpion, a Sphinx, a mask, a spider, and a skull. These hybrid configurations transform Nefertiti from a singular historical figure into a polyvalent emblem – invoking danger, myth, ritual, death, and hidden knowledge. The fusion of her likeness with these symbols positions her as a cipher for diasporic strength and coded resistance.

Erizku’s engagement with Nefertiti’s image stems from the colonial displacement of Thutmose’s original bust. The German Oriental Company uncovered the bust of Nefertiti during an expedition to Amarna in 1912. A sponsor of the excavation lent the sculpture to the Neues Museum in Berlin in 1913, where it has remained ever since. Germany’s claim to the ancient artwork has been contested by Egyptian authorities and activists alike. The sculptures thus operate within this charged historical context, addressing the violence of museum acquisition and the ongoing denial of restitution.

The safes evoke the aesthetics of security infrastructure, suggesting that cultural artefacts remain locked away both literally and ideologically. Their industrial surfaces contrast with the rich, tactile quality of the bronze, reinforcing the tension between preservation and control.