More than ever in the era of globalization, ideas traverse geographic, generational, and cultural boundaries, even as national borders seem to be closing. Beyond Borders: Global Africa reflects on this moment by considering how Africa and its artists have been at the center of complex histories of encounter and exchange for centuries. Bringing together a dazzling array of works made in Africa, Europe, and the United States from the nineteenth to twenty-first century, the exhibition demonstrates the international scope and reach of art from Africa and the African diaspora. It also explores issues such as slavery, colonization, migration, racism, and identity at play in the objects and their histories. Highlights include paintings, photographs, sculpture, and installations by Kudzanai Chiurai, Omar Victor Diop, Wangechi Mutu, and Serge Alain Nitegeka. The exhibition is accompanied by a fully-illustrated publication, the tenth in the UMMA Books series.
Lead support for Beyond Borders: Global Africa is provided by the University of Michigan Office of the Provost, Michigan Medicine, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the University of Michigan Office of Research, African Studies Center, and Department of Afroamerican and African Studies. Additional generous support is provided by the University of Michigan CEW+ Frances and Sydney Lewis Visiting Leaders Fund and Susan Ullrich.
Images
Omar Victor Diop, Jean-Baptiste Belley (1746-1805), 2014, pigment inkjet print on Harman by Hahnemühle paper. Courtesy of Mott-Warsh collection, Flint, Michigan and MAGNIN-A Gallery, Paris, © Omar Victor Diop
Chéri Samba, Hommage aux Anciens Créateurs (A Tribute to Earlier Artists), 1999, acrylic and glitter on canvas. Courtesy of the Contemporary African Art Collection (CAAC), Collection Jean Pigozzi, Geneva, © Chéri Samba
Seydou Keïta, Untitled, 1956-57, gelatin silver print. Courtesy of the Contemporary African Art Collection (CAAC), Collection Jean Pigozzi, Geneva, © Seydou Keïta / SKPEAC
Artist unrecorded, Vili group, Kongo peoples, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Angola, Nkisi (power figure), ca. 1800, wood, tukula powder and kaolin. University of Michigan Museum of Art, Gift of Candis and Helmut Stern, 2005/1.180. Photography: Charlie Edwards
Artist unrecorded, collected in Florida, Paket kongo (Vodou medicine packet), 2012, cloth, thread, feathers, metal pins, unidentified substances. Private collection. Photography: Charlie Edwards
Serge Alain Nitegeka, Colour & Form XVIII, 2016, paint on wood. Courtesy of Mott-Warsh Collection, Flint and Stevenson, Cape Town and Johannesburg, © Serge Alain Nitegeka
Nandipha Mntambo, Ukungenisa, 2008, chromogenic color print. Courtesy of the Contemporary African Art Collection (CAAC), Collection Jean Pigozzi, Geneva, and Stevenson, Cape Town and Johannesburg, © Nandipha Mntambo
Kehinde Wiley, On Top of the World, 2008, oil on canvas. Courtesy of Aishti Foundation, Beirut © Kehinde Wiley