The Power of My Hands

As part of the Africa2020 Season, Angola-based independent curator Suzana Sousa and Odile Burluraux,  curator at the Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris, have selected artworks by sixteen women artists from various English - and Portuguese - speaking African countries or the diaspora. 

The result is an insight into an African contemporary art scene rarely presented in France. The Power of My Hands tells us how artists can use their personal histories to address the social issues that govern the condition of women today. Examining a range of themes – the body, sexuality, self-representation, motherhood, beliefs – the exhibition asks how, for Black women, attitudes to privacy reveal what goes unsaid and their relationship with the world. It does this via an intermingling of the notions of memory, family, spirituality and imagination.

Exhibition participants:  Stacey Gillian Abe (Uganda), Njideka Akunyili, Crosby (Nigeria), Gabrielle Goliath (South Africa), Kudzanai-Violet Hwami (Zimbabwe), Keyezua (Angola), Lebohang Kganye (South Africa), Kapwani Kiwanga (Canada), Senzeni Marasela (South Africa), Grace Ndiritu (Kenya/United Kingdom), Wura-Natasha Ogunji (United States/Nigeria), Reinata, Sadimba (Mozambique), Lerato Shadi (South Africa), Ana Silva (Angola), Buhlebezwe Siwani (South Africa), Billie Zangewa (Malawi), Portia Zvavahera (Zimbabwe)

About the Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris

Located between the Champs-Elysées and the Eiffel Tower, the Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris is a magnificent example of 1930s architecture. The Museum’s collection of more than 15,000 works includes La Danse by Matisse and Raoul Dufy’s monumental masterpiece La Fée électricité. Exhibitions of international scope showcasing modern art and contemporary art are scheduled throughout the year.

Exhibition curators:  Odile Burluraux (France) and Suzana Sousa (Angola).

^{Photo credit : Ema Edosio ©Wura-Natasha OGUNJI}