All exhibitions and tour venues of past exhibitions organized by and/or on view at the Museum for African Art.

Art of the Lega: Meaning and Metaphor in Central Africa in an exhibition that explores the role of the arts in Lega society and their importance to the Lega peoples of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.  Central to the imagery of the Lega are references to the Bwami society, a complex organization that provides political, religious, and social structure for the Lega peoples.  Works of art are used by the Lega to teach the many lessons, stories, and values that must be learned by initiates moving up through the ranks of the Bwami society.

At Arm’s Length: The Art of African Puppetry, an exhibition featuring two of Africa’s most respected and popular companies, the Handspring Puppet Theater of South Africa and the Sogolon Puppet Company from Mali, presents nearly 100 animated puppets, marionettes, and puppet sculptures used in traditional and contemporary theatrical performances. Juxtaposed alongside the puppets are performance videos and photographs, demonstrating the creative possibilities of a true synthesis of the arts of two geographically distinct and historically separate regions.

Bamana: The Art of Existence in Mali provides a comprehensive examination of the Bamana peoples of West Africa.  Westerners have long thought African society is governed by ancestry and ethnicity.  But in fact we come to recognize that more profound characteristics pertaining to philosophy and ethics are stronger influeces as revealed by this study of the Bamana way of life. 

Baule: African Art/Western Eyes draws attention to different ways of looking both in Baule culture and in the West and reveals that Baule art differs from most traditional African art in being intimately bound to the personal experiences of individuals.

Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe's arresting photographs of Daufuskie Island, off the coast of South Carolina, document the lives of "Gullah-Geechee" African Americans living there in the 1970s, just before the tides of change swept over this once remote community.

The first major traveling exhibition of contemporary African design, Design: Made in Africa presents a selection of 45 objects by 30 designers from 14 African countries. With a jury presided over by Samuel Sidibé, Director of the National Museum of Mali in Bamako, the curators Céline Savoye and Michel Bouisson made an impressive selection from an open call for proposals of interior design objects made in Africa. Design: Made in Africa presents a colorful array of furniture, tapestries, lighting fixtures, and utilitarian objects.

For the Yoruba, a mother of twins is indeed doubly blessed. With the birth of her twins, comes the family’s ability to attain a better life through the aid of these special children who are considered close to the gods. As is often the case in Africa, and in life, good fortune can turn to disaster if it is not handled properly. The Yoruba believe that special ceremonies must be performed, praise songs sung and special foods be served to twins so that they can maintain their favor with the Gods and hence that of their family.

This spring, the Museum for African Art and BRIC Arts | Media | Bklyn will present thirty years of never-before-seen drawings and sketches by the acclaimed sculptor El Anatsui. On view at the BRIC Rotunda Gallery, 33 Clinton Street, Brooklyn, NY from March 25th through May 2nd, 2009.

Image: Peak Project (1999)

Hair in African Art and Culture, organized by the Museum for African Art, brings together over fifty objects from collections around the world, including masks and figures, combs, hairpins, beads, headrests, and contemporary African barbershop signs to illustrate the enormous significance of hair within African society.

In the Design and sculptural innovation meet spiritual power in a new exhibition of art from Angola, Mozambique, and Guinea Bissau.  Culled from the African collections of the National Museum of Ethnology, Lisbon, In the Presence of Spirits features approximately 142 objects.  These objects are endowed with either spiritual or secular power.  They range from masks and figures, to carved combs, pipes, stools and chairs.  This exhibition marks the first time that many of the artworks will be on public view in the United States.

Liberated Voices: Contemporary Art from South Africa presents paintings, sculptures and installations created between 1994 and 1999. This period coincides with Nelson Mandela's term as the first President of the new South Africa when nearly fifty years of Apartheid ended.  South Africa immediately showed its interest in contemporary art by organizing two international Johannesburg Biennales in 1995 and 1997.  South African artists had a strong presence at both events as well as in other Pan-African and International art shows.

Looking Both Ways: Art of the Contemporary African Diaspora is a distinctive exhibition that embodies the diverse cultural influences acting on twelve artists from Africa now living in Western countries. 

Material Differences: Art and Identity in Africa reveals the traditions, rituals, and spiritual powers intrinsic to the materials used to create works of art in Africa which are profoundly significant.  The choice of materials determines the social, economic and religious status of the objects themselves, their owners, and the artists who create them.  To understand African art, then, we need to examine the different layers of meaning inherent in the material of each object.

Personal Affects: Power and Poetics in Contemporary South African Art is an exhibition that showcases artists on the cutting edge of contemporary South African production, most of whom have received little or no previous exposure in New York. 

The Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts (MoCADA) and the Museum for African Art are proud to present Perspectives: Women, Art and Islam, an exhibition of five female artists whose major connection is their personal relationship with Islam. Perspectives, curated by Kimberli Gant and Lisa Binder, will be on view at MoCADA, 80 Hanson Place in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, from June 4 - September 13, 2009, and is presented in conjunction with Muslim Voices: Arts and Ideas, a multi-institutional celebration of the extraordinary range of artistic expression in the Muslim world.

Reflections: African Art Is… raises a number of  questions about the nature of African art ranging from the ways museum presentations change the meaning of art that was made to be seen in a specific cultural context, to questions about what might be considered art in Africa. Reflections looks at how African art is related to the culture and religion of specific African peoples, how it relates to daily life, and how it enhances political and social status.

A collaboration between the Museum for African Art and the New Orleans Museum of Art, Resonance from the Past: African Sculpture from the New Orleans Museum of Art consists of approximately 100 works of art including masks, figures, musical instruments, ceramics, and fabric and beadwork costumes chosen from the extensive collection of the New Orleans Museum of Art.

griot (gree-oh) n. - a storyteller and keeper of the oral traditions of family and village. Visual Griots of Mali combines the importance of storytelling with the power of the camera, engaging Malian youth to use images instead of words in a revealing process of self-exploration and expression. Forty-nine black and white photographs tell stories of life in Mali, West Africa, from the perspective of a new generation of visual griots.