Ideas of Africa. Portraiture and Political Imagination | Exhibition

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MoMA Museum of Modern Art Exhibition Space

11 West 53 Street New York New York NY 10019 United States COPY Direction

Event Date: Now 2025-12-14 10:30 ~ 2025-12-25 17:30

Project Key : #Africa, #MOMA, #Imagination

https://www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/...
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Ideas of Africa. Portraiture and Political Imagination | Exhibition

10Day Left :: Add to my calendar

MoMA Museum of Modern Art Exhibition Space

11 West 53 Street New York New York NY 10019 United States COPY Direction

Event Date: Now 2025-12-14 10:30 ~ 2025-12-25 17:30

Project Key : #Africa, #MOMA, #Imagination

https://www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/...
JOIN

Description
Additional Info.

Can a photographic portrait inspire political imagination? Ideas of Africa: Portraiture and Political Imagination examines how photographers and their sitters contributed to the proliferation of Pan-African solidarity during the mid-20th century. Embracing the international spirit of the time, the exhibition gathers striking pictures by photographers working in Central and West African cities. They created images of everyday citizens, dazzling music scenes, and potent manifestations of youth culture that reflected emerging political realities.

Photographs by Jean Depara, Seydou Keïta, Malick Sidibé, and Sanlé Sory portray residents across Bamako, Bobo-Dioulasso, and Kinshasa at a time when the winds of decolonial change swept the African continent in tandem with the burgeoning US Civil Rights movement. The exhibition also spotlights James Barnor and Kwame Brathwaite—photographers living in Europe and North America who contributed to the construction of Africa as a political idea. Contemporary works by artists such as Samuel Fosso, Silvia Rosi, and Njideka Akunyili Crosby show the enduring relevance of these themes. Brimming with possibility, Ideas of Africa: Portraiture and Political Imagination embraces the creative potential of the photographic portrait and its political resonance across the globe.

Organized by Oluremi C. Onabanjo, The Peter Schub Curator, with Chiara M. Mannarino, Curatorial Assistant, The Robert B. Menschel Department of Photography.

Accepted 2025-12-14 16:24

*This program is subject to change by the Organizer's reasons, so please refer to the website or the Organizer's notice for more information.
All images/words © the artist(s) and organization(s)

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