Beginning in 2017/2018, MCEM inhabited the former Maine International Trade Center for a year and a half. During that time Hi Tiger hosted workshops and events, artist projects, youth and adult creative development programs centering around a mobile production station. For the exhibition From Ancient Africa to Contemporary America, Hi Tiger created a series of large scale portraits on cardboard that refer to the “paper bag test” from a time when you could be no darker than one to gain access or be considered beautiful. The portraits were exhibited with over 300 masks and artifacts from the collection of the Museum of African Culture. In order to highlight MCEM’s original intent as the work of an individual artist, the project’s name was changed to Maine Center for Blah Blah Blah in 2020. The rebirth was made possible by The Kindling Fund administered by SPACE Gallery.