WHEN WE SEE US A CENTURY OF BLACK FIGURATION IN PAINTING
MAY 25–OCTOBER 27, 2024
KUNSTMUSEUM BASEL, GEGENWART | BASEL, SWITZERLAND
Esiri Erheriene-Essi, The Birthday Party, 2021 Oil, ink and Xerox transfer on linen, 150 x 200 cm Courtesy of Jorge M. Pérez Collection, Miami
In what ways have artists from the African continent and its far-flung diaspora processed the experience of the quotidian in their painting over the last 100 years? Koyo Kouoh, Director and Chief Curator of the Zeitz MOCAA in Cape Town, South Africa, and her team undertook extensive research to find out. The result is a comprehensive show that brings together works by 156 artists: a kaleidoscope of Black figurative painting over the last 100 years.
The exhibition’s title is inspired by the 2019 Netflix miniseries When They See Us by African-American director Ava DuVernay, which focuses on how Black youth are seen as potential criminals and thus as a threat. Replacing “they” with “we” in the title indicates the crucial perspectival shift: The works on show bring into focus the artists’ lived realities as subject of their own art.
Amounting to over 200 pieces, the artworks are grouped into six distinct thematic categories entitled “The Everyday,” “Joy & Revelry,” ”Repose,” “Sensuality,” “Spirituality,” and “Triumph and Emancipation.”
