![Jamal Cyrus, Ancestral Relic, 2020](https://artlogic-res.cloudinary.com/w_1600,h_1600,c_limit,f_auto,fl_lossy,q_auto/ws-artlogicwebsite0022/usr/images/artworks/main_image/items/15/15e33a2b0a5740da93420e91f3181596/jcy-93_ancestral-relic_11x16x8_original3_crop.jpg)
![Jamal Cyrus, Ancestral Relic, 2020](https://artlogic-res.cloudinary.com/w_1600,h_1600,c_limit,f_auto,fl_lossy,q_auto/ws-artlogicwebsite0022/usr/library/images/main/artworks/9577/jcy-93_ancestral-relic_11x16x8_original4_crop.jpg)
![Jamal Cyrus, Ancestral Relic, 2020](https://artlogic-res.cloudinary.com/w_1600,h_1600,c_limit,f_auto,fl_lossy,q_auto/ws-artlogicwebsite0022/usr/library/images/main/artworks/9577/jcy-93_ancestral-relic_11x16x8_original1_crop.jpg)
Jamal Cyrus
Further images
This work consists of found bookends in the style of Albrecht Dürer's Praying Hands and sargassum-seaweed from the Sargasso Sea-that is bound in plastic. Sargassum is a power-material that has been deployed elsewhere in Cyrus's practice, and here it has an uncanny resemblance to a brick of cocaine. Cyrus has stated he is interested in the dual nature of the work that depends on how it is read. Formally, the work's power-status is foregrounded by the height of its installation at 68 inches.