When We See Us: A Century of Black Figuration in Painting

About

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 120 artists: a kaleidoscope of Black figurative painting over the last 100 years. Also scheduled to be on show at the Kunstmuseum Basel, Zeitz MOCAA has created a groundbreaking exhibition that demands to be seen.

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 150 pieces, the artworks are grouped into six distinct thematic categories entitled “The Everyday,” “Joy & Revelry,” ”Repose,” “Sensuality,” “Spirituality,” and “Triumph and Emancipation.”

This multifaceted special exhibition at the Kunstmuseum Basel | Gegenwart introduces viewers to figurative painting by Black artists from Africa and the African Diaspora dating from the 1920s through to the present. Sound stations and atmospheric staging provide complementary contextual elements as aids to interpretation. A multilayered series of public programmes designed in collaboration with external partners provides additional approaches to the exhibition.