In/sight: African Photographers, 1940 to the Present

May 24-September 29, 1966

Purpose: This is the first museum exhibition ever to explore the achievements of photographers from Africa in the years that marked the emergence of independent African states.

Content: In/sight: African Photographers, 1940 to the Present includes more than 130 works by 28 artists. The exhibition begins in the 1940s with studio portraits by Salla Casset (Senegal), Me‹ssa Gaye (Senegal), and Seydou Keita (Mali). Their work grew during a period of great transformation and forged a new sense of identity within the urban centers and rural communities where they worked. Notable photographers from the 1950s include Bob Gosani (South Africa), Peter Magubane (South Af rica), and others who worked for the influential magazine Drum. Their work highlights the ways in which the camera became a critical means of commentary on visual culture and social change. Works commissioned for Drum, founded in South Africa with later editions in Nigeria, Ghana, East and Central Africa, will be a special feature of the installation.

Works from the 1960s and 1970s vividly chronicle the development of independent countries, and the emergence of Africa as part of the modern world. Among those featured are Corn‚lius Yao Azaglo Augustt (Ivory Coast), Samuel Fosso (Central Afri can Republic), David Goldblatt (South Africa), Ricardo Rangel (Mozambique), and Malick Sidib‚ (Mali). Artists working in the 1980s and 90s, including Olad‚l‚ Ajiboye Bamgboye (Nigeria), Zarina Bhimji (Uganda), Nabil Boutros (Egypt), Mody Sory Diallo (Gui nea), Kamel Dridi (Tunisia), Touhami Ennadre (Morocco), Jellel Gasteli (Tunisia), Santu Mofokeng (South Africa), Lamia Naji (Morocco), and Ik‚ Ud‚ (Nigeria), engage new themes of self-expression, often focusing on the issues of race, sexuality, gender, an d nationality.

Organization: In/sight: African Photographers, 1940 to the Present is co-curated by Clare Bell, Assistant Curator at the Guggenheim Museum, and independent curators Okwui Enwezor, Editor-in-Chief of Nka, Journal of Contemporary African Art, Dani elle Tilkin, Project Director for Africa Hoy/Africa Now, and Octavio Zaya, Associate Editor of Atlantica.

Sponsorship: This exhibition is funded, in part, by The Rockefeller Foundation and The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. Publication: A fully illustrated catalogue, published by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, will be the first ever produced on the subject and will include essays by the curators as well as art historian Olu O guibe, Assistant Professor of Art Histor y at the University of Illinois at Chicago. The publication will be distributed by Harry N. Abrams, Inc.

FOR PRESS INFORMATION:

Christine Ferrara
Public Affairs Department
Telephone: 212/423-3841
Telefax: 212/941-8410
E-mail: cferrara@guggenheim.org