Yann specializes in contemporary West African masquerades with a focus on Côte d'Ivoire and Liberia. He received his B.A from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in 2018 with the highest honors in both of his majors, Art History and Anthropology. Prior to entering Columbia's Ph.D. program in 2019, he worked as an archaeological assistant at the Schiele Museum of Natural history and as a researcher at the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art. He is currently conducting his doctoral field research in the city of Man, Côte d’Ivoire. His dissertation examines the current masking practices in the Dan region. His research has been published in African Arts and The Journal of Visual Culture.
