Nick
Cave studied both fine arts and dance before he graduated with an M.F.A. from
Cranbrook Academy in 1989. He created his first Soundsuit out of twigs in 1992
in the wake of the Rodney King riots; at a moment when Americans across the
country were debating issues of race and identity, Cave discovered that the
masquerade offered by a suit that covered his body and face offered a new
freedom. "When I was inside a suit," Cave later stated, "you
couldn't tell if I was a woman or man; if I was black, red, green or orange;
from Haiti or South Africa. I was no longer Nick. I was a shaman of
sorts."