Maboneng Arts Centre, South Africa

Maboneng is a township in Cape Town South Africa, that has been transformed through the Art of its talented residences. Art is displayed in people’s houses, and in various types of venues. People travel from around the world, to enjoy the Art and buy the Art.

In South Africa, there’s a national public arts initiative that turns houses into art galleries. The Maboneng Township Arts Experience has shown the works of more than 40 people, encouraging locals to invest in art.

The arts are a perfect destination development platform especially if it is home focused and the community is involved. A guest from Uganda marvels at how the arts can change the community.

Words of The Founder – Siphiwe Ngwenya

“After struggling to exhibit my own works earlier on in my career, I ended up exhibiting in the streets and homes of my own community. And now, we’ve created experiences that solve the problem of artists looking for space, families looking for work and the township looking for its place in the world. Join me in my journey of turning townships into towns and exploring new frontiers of my creative career.”

The organisation’s programmes contribute substantially towards training, women and youth empowerment, income generation, as well as the advancement of inclusive and responsible tourism in South Africa. The ongoing programmes impact the cultural, social, economic and environmental conditions of all participants. They transform the local tourism economy and improve the quality of life for the long run. We do not just do poverty tourism, we do development tourism. When you book your tour, we build our South African Townships at the same time.

The Maboneng Township Arts Experience is a non profit destination development initiative. The organisation turns homes in townships into attractions and communities into creative districts. We train and upskill homeowners and families to create a warm intimate creative environment between townships, rural areas and cities; for locals and international visitors alike.

The Arts Business is the first African black owned tourism and community development non profit with such impact accolades. Our community members that are partners in the experiences earn a living from bookings. Their children are inspired on every tour to follow a career in the arts and in tourism. Their goal of turning townships into towns through the arts comes even closer with people that want their travel experiences to be a building experience.

In the past 2 decades, Maboneng Township Arts Experience has created experiences in South African communities that have led a multitude of visitors from all over the world to these new centres of culture.

The name Maboneng is a Sesotho word for a place of lights. After being called Dark City because it had no electricity, Alexandra Township residents nicknamed their township to Alexandra Maboneng meaning Alexandra – A Place of Lights. A good fit to be the birth place of The Maboneng Township Arts Experience & its founder Siphiwe Ngwenya.

Source: maboneng.com

Black Owned Art Galleries and Museums Worldwide

While the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020 may seem like a distant memory, the calls for action, support and representation are just as prevalent today as ever. Several years ago, we compiled a list of Black-owned galleries and museums around the world that should be on all art radars.

Check out the full list below. However please note that this represents a subset. There may be double this number around the world. Please email us if you feel there is a gallery missing.

Compiled by Shawn Ghassemitari of hypebeast.com


USA

Hannah Traore Gallery (New York, NY)

Sow & Tailor (Los Angeles, CA)

ArtWest (Chicago, IL)

Nicola Vassell Gallery (New York, NY)

Welancora Gallery (Brooklyn, NY)

Hammonds House Museum (Atlanta, GA)

ZuCot Gallery (Atlanta, GA)

Arnika Dawkins (Atlanta, GA)

September Gray Fine Art (Atlanta, GA)

ZuCot Gallery (Atlanta GA)

Sabree’s Gallery of the Arts (Savannah, GA)

Waller Gallery (Baltimore, MD)

Galerie Myrtis (Baltimore, MD)

The Gallery About Nothing (Baltimore, MD)

Annie’s Art Gallery (Upper Marlboro, MD)

BlkMrkt (Charlotte, NC)

Dupp & Swat (Charlotte, NC)

Anthony Gallery (Chicago, IL)

Gallery Guichard (Chicago, IL)

ILA Gallery (Denver, CO)

E&S Gallery (Louisville, KY)

Terrance Osborne Gallery (New Orleans, LA)

Stella Jones Gallery (New Orleans, LA)

Rush Arts Philadelphia (Philadelphia, PA)

The Museum of African American Art (Philadelphia, PA)

The Colored Girls Museum (Philadelphia, PA)

The Spite Haus (Philadelphia, PA)

Moody Jones Gallery (Glenside, PA)

Northwest African American Museum (Seattle, WA)

Mariane Ibrahim Gallery (Seattle, WA)

Woodcuts Fine Art Gallery (Nashville, TN)

N’Namdi Contemporary (Miami, Florida)

Dorsey’s Art Gallery (Brooklyn, NY)

Ground Floor Gallery (Brooklyn, NY)

Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts (Brooklyn, NY)

Richard Beavers Gallery (Brooklyn, NY)

s.k.Artspace (Brooklyn, NY)

Welancora (Brooklyn, NY)

Medium Tings (Brooklyn, NY)

Jenkins Johnson Gallery (Brooklyn, NY)

Housing (Brooklyn, NY)

Essie Green Galleries (New York, NY)

The Studio Museum (New York, NY)

Black Gotham (New York, NY)

Cindy Rucker Gallery (New York, NY)

Essie Green Galleries (New York, NY)

Long Gallery (New York, NY)

Peg Alston Fine Arts (New York, NY)

Skoto Gallery (New York, NY)

Mackey Twins Art Gallery (Mount Vernon, NY)

Gallery Kendra Jayne Patrick (New York, NY)

Heath Gallery (New York, NY)

June Kelly Gallery (New York, NY)

The Compound (Bronx, NY)

Akwaaba Gallery (Newark, NJ)

Left of Center Art Gallery (Las Vegas, NV)

Terrance Osbourne Gallery (New Orleans, LA)

The Mayme A. Clayton Library and Museum (Culver City, CA)

The Underground Museum (Los Angeles, CA)

Thinkspace Projects Art Gallery (Los Angeles, CA)

California African American Museum (Los Angeles, CA)

The William Grant Still Arts Center (Los Angeles, CA)

Band of Vices (Los Angeles, CA)

Nous Tous Community Gallery (Los Angeles, CA)

Dreamhaus LA (Los Angeles, CA)

Paulson Fontaine Press (Berkeley, CA)

Betti Ono (Oakland, CA)

Thelma Harris Art Gallery (Oakland, CA)

Gallery Chuma (Charleston, SC)

Neema Gallery (Charleston, SC)

Lybenson Gallery (Beaufort, SC)

Black Wall Street Gallery (Tulsa, OK)

Hearne Fine Art (Little Rock, AR)

The Well Art Gallery (Richmond, VA)

11:Eleven Gallery (Washington D.C.)

Art of Noize (Washington D.C.)

Homme DC (Washington D.C.)

Mehari Sequar Gallery (Washington D.C.)

Ethiopia

Zoma Museum (Addis Ababa, ET)

Ghana

dot.ateliers (Accra, Ghana)

Berj Art Gallery (Labone, GH)

Nubuke Foundation (Accra, GH)

Nigeria

SMO Contemporary Art (Lagos, NG)

Retro Africa (Abuja, NGA)

Thought Pyramid (Abuja, NGA)

Artyrama (Lagos, NGA)

G.A.S. (Lagos, NGA)

Mydrim Gallery (Lagos, NGA)

SMO Contemporary Art (Lagos, NGA)

Nike Art Gallery (Lekke, NGA)

Senegal

Black Rock (Dakar, SN)

Uganda

Afriart Gallery (Kampala, UG)

United Kingdom

INIVA (London, UK)

Ramp Gallery (London, UK)

198 Contemporary Arts & Learning (London, UK)

Addis Fine Art (London, UK)

Autograph ABP (London, UK)

Black Cultural Archives (London, UK)

Guest Projects (London, UK)

Institute of International Visual Arts (London, UK)

Tafeta (London, UK)

France

Gallery Nelly Wandji (Paris, FR)

Gallery Nosco, (Marseille, FR)

(S)ITOR (Paris, FR)

The Netherlands

Museum of Modern African Art [MoMAA] (Amsterdam, Netherlands)

Germany

Savvy Contemporary (Berlin, GR)

Sakhile Malthare (Frankfurt, GR)

Original Story: Black Lives Matter demonstrations have erupted across the country since the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25, 2021. Protesters from New York City to Los Angeles have called for racial justice and pressured local officials to defund police departments following Floyd’s death in the hands of local authorities as well as Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, Ahmaud Arbery and countless Black victims.

In the art world, many institutions including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Guggenheim Museum were criticized for not reflecting on their stated commitments to antiracism in their programming and hiring practices during the #BlackoutTuesday social media campaign. The industry, as a predominantly white entity, must now grapple with the lack of Black and minority representation in institutional spaces.

For years, Black people have largely been excluded from the executive board and permanent collections of America’s most prestigious museums such as The Met, National Gallery, MoMA, and the Guggenheim. The Guggenheim itself did not have a full-time Black curator until 2019 when the museum hired Basquiat scholar and journalist, Chaédria LaBouvier.

To help elevate Black visibility, we compiled an ongoing list of over 90 Black-owned museums and galleries from around the world, below. Be sure to also check out Dazed’s global list of Black-owned/founded museums, art galleries and spaces to support.

The National Museum of African American History and Culture (The Smithsonian in Washington)

The National Museum of African American History and Culture is a place where all Americans can learn about the richness and diversity of the African American experience, what it means to their lives, and how it helped us shape this nation.

Highlights of the museum include – Harriet Tubman’s hymnal; Nat Turner’s bible; A plantation cabin from South Carolina; Guard tower from Angola Prison; Chuck Berry’s red Cadillac convertible; and works by prolific artists such as Charles Alston, Elizabeth Catlett, Romare Bearden, and Henry O. Tanner.

The National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC), colloquially known as the Blacksonian, is a Smithsonian Institution museum located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., in the United States. It was established in 2003 and opened its permanent home in 2016 with a ceremony led by President Barack Obama.

Early efforts to establish a federally owned museum featuring African-American history and culture can be traced to 1915 and the National Memorial Association, although the modern push for such an organization did not begin until the 1970s. After years of little success, a legislative push began in 1988 that led to authorization of the museum in 2003. A site was selected in 2006, and a design submitted by Freelon Group/Adjaye Associates/Davis Brody Bond was chosen in 2009. Construction began in 2012 and the museum completed in 2016.

Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of African American History and Culture Architectural Photrography

The NMAAHC is the world’s largest museum dedicated to African-American history and culture. In 2022 it welcomed 1,092,552 visitors, and was the second-most visited Smithsonian Museum and eighth-most visited museum in the United States. The museum has more than 40,000 objects in its collection, although only about 3,500 items are on display. The 350,000-square-foot (33,000 m2), 10 story building (five above and five below ground) and its exhibits have won critical praise.

When the museum was first opened you can imagine the reviews that came in from the press and visitors alike. Overall the reception was favourable. The location appears that it is a pilgrimage to be made by millions over time. In 2023, National Museum of African American History and Culture was designated the 11th most visited museum in America, with 1,600,000 visitors in that year.

In a review for The New York Times, art critic Holland Cotter wrote, “The extremely complex narrative, with uplift and tragedy seemingly on a fixed collision course, spreads over five floors of galleries”, and that it “holds some of the oldest and most disturbing material.” Cotter added that “It’s great that the museum mixes everything together: It means you can’t just select a comfortable version of history.”

The Wall Street Journal’s critic at large, Edward Rothstein, suggested that “even a full day’s visit is insufficient for a careful survey. That alone is an imposing achievement”. Rothstein wrote that the “museum is illuminating, disturbing, moving—and flawed”. He wrote that we “see the evolution of African-American newspapers, businesses, churches and other institutions. Galleries devoted to music and sports make it plain how much African-American history and culture is simply American history and culture.”

In The Plain Dealer, Susan Glaser wrote that the museum “is really two museums in one: Its historical exhibits encompasses [sic] about 60 percent of the gallery space, while cultural exhibits take up the other 40 percent.” She wrote that the museum is “filled with difficult truths”.

Los Angeles Times architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne wrote that the museum is the “most impressive and ambitious public building to go up in Washington in a generation” and that despite “some flaws and unfortunate signs of cost-cutting, the design succeeds almost precisely to the degree that it is enigmatic and even fickle, spanning huge gulfs in the national character without being naive enough to try to close them. The building embraces memory and aspiration, protest and reconciliation, pride and shame.”

Museu Afro Brasil – Museum in Brazil

About the Museu Afro Brasil

The Museu Afro Brasil Emanoel Araujo is an institution of the Secretariat of Culture, Economy and Creative Industry of the State of São Paulo, administered by the Associação Museu Afro Brasil – Organização Social de Cultura.

Opened in 2004, from the private collection of its founder, Emanoel Araujo (1940-2022), the museum is a space of history, memory and art. Located in the Padre Manoel da Nóbrega Pavilion, inside the most famous park in São Paulo, Parque Ibirapuera, the Museu Afro Brasil Emanoel Araujo preserves, in approximately 12 thousand m².

Museu Afro Brasil is a public institution, and managed by Associação Museu Afro Brasil – Organização Social de Cultura (Museu Afro-Brasil Association – Social Organization for Culture)

It aims to be a contemporary museum where the black people can be recognized.

Over than 6,000 works highlight the importance of African people in the formation of Brazilian culture, heritage and identity as known nowadays. Also, it offers a celebration of the art and accomplishments of the Africans and Afro-Brazilians.

The Collection is considered the largest Afro – American in American with more than 6,000 masterpieces, sculptures, documents, engravings, ceramics, paintings, contemporary arts, jewelry, objects, reliefs, photographs and textiles.

Over than 70% of the collection is in the long term exhibition, portraying mainly Brazil, some countries from the African Continent, Cuba, Haiti and the United States.

The Afro Brazil Museum was inaugurated on October 23, 2004 by Emanoel Araujo (1940-2022), establishing itself as an essential moment for the appreciation of African and Afro-diasporic contributions to the formation of the country. Since then, the museum has become a space of memory, resistance, and creation, focused on recognizing the struggles, achievements, and legacies of black people.

In celebration of its 20th anniversary, the Afro Brazil Museum, an institution of the Secretariat of Culture, Economy, and Creative Industry, is showing three exhibitions that discuss different facets of Afro-Brazilian art, history, and culture: “A History of Power in Africa,” “Popular, Popular,” and “Thinking and Rethinking, Doing and Redoing.” The exhibitions feature works that are part of the Museum space and reflect on the past and future of the institution.

The productions on display reproduce the challenges that black people face and reimagine the trajectory of the struggle of the black population in Brazil, recognizing the paving of this path over the centuries and its impact on Brazilian society.

A History of Power in Africa – An in-depth look at African centrality

The Ministry of Culture presents “A History of Power in Africa”, inspired by the ideas of Cheikh Anta Diop, “A History of Power in Africa” highlights the relevance of Africa in the formation of world civilizations, recognizing ancient Egypt as an integral part of the African continent. The works on display explore the intersection between past and present, with emphasis on Egyptian relics that reinforce the cultural and historical importance of Egypt for sub-Saharan Africa.

Two contemporary names stand out: Angolan Damara Inglês and Guinean Gisela Casimiro, artists with works specially commissioned for this exhibition. Both bring current perspectives that dialogue with the concept of power and African ancestry, contributing to a critical reinterpretation of African art in its various manifestations.

Among the most striking artifacts and works are the Throne of the Kingdom of Dahomey, the Luba Bench and the Bronze Head of Yoba, in addition to rare pieces from the ancient Egyptian civilization. The cultural connections between Egypt and the rest of Africa, so strongly advocated by Diop, are highlighted throughout the exhibition, which is divided into five thematic sections.

Popular, Populares – The plurality of the ‘popular’ in the arts

The exhibition “Popular, Populares” arrives at an opportune moment, coinciding with the celebrations of the 20th anniversary of the Museu Afro Brasil. It addresses questions about what is defined as “popular” in the arts, challenging the categorizations that often label these artists as “naïve” or with little academic training.

The exhibition presents works by masters such as Cândido Santos Xavier, Luiz Antônio da Silva, Ciça – Cícera Fonseca da Silva, M. L. C. – Maria de Lurdes Cândido, Jadir João Egidio, M. C. M. – Maria Cândido Monteiro, Mestre Noza, Manuel Graciano Cardoso, Mestre Vitalino (and family), Véio and Dedé.

The plurality of popular art is explored in several dimensions, from multicolored and anthropomorphic pieces to the minimalism of forms. The works are exhibited in dialogue, allowing the visitor an immersive experience. The journey begins with the boats of Exu by Cândido Santos Xavier, passes through the memories and sculpted portraits of the “Quilombola Family” by Mauro Firmino and ends with the fantastic realism of mermaids and mythical Brazilian beings, with sculptures by Resêndio and Manuel Graciano Cardoso.

The questioning of what is “popular” runs through the entire exhibition, with the museum challenging stereotypical views about the place of these works in the history of Brazilian art. Popular art, always plural, reveals the resistance and daily survival of its creators.

Thinking and Rethinking, Doing and Redoing – Reflections on the Museum’s Legacy, a Timeline of Resistance

Over two decades, the Museu Afro Brasil has hosted and promoted exhibitions that celebrate Afro-Brazilian history and culture, and also challenge narratives that limit the role of black people in Brazil and the world. Exhibitions such as “Brazilian, Brazilians” (2004), “Benin is still alive there” (2007) and “This is a black thing – 130 years since the abolition of slavery: art, history and memory” (2018) demonstrate the museum’s efforts to position itself as a space for collective struggle.

Tributes to iconic black figures

In parallel with the exhibition, the Museu Afro Brasil pays tribute to historical figures who represent the struggle and the conquest of space for the black population in Brazil, such as Ruth de Souza, a pioneering actress and the first black woman to star in a play in Brazilian theater, who gives her name to the museum’s theater, and Carolina Maria de Jesus, a writer and paper collector, whose name is given to the institution’s library.

These personalities are examples of resistance and symbolize the social transformation that the museum has been working towards since its founding.

The legacy of Emanoel Araujo

Emanoel Araujo, who directed the Museu Afro Brasil until 2022, was a tireless defender of black culture and the plurality of Afro-Brazilian narratives. He challenged the limited view of history, proposing a museum in constant transformation, where the past and the present intertwine to retell the history of the black diaspora in a broad and complex way.

The concept of “thinking and rethinking” guides the new exhibition and reflects the vision that the museum is a space that promotes dynamism, always open to all.

Source: https://vivaacidadenews.com.br/

(Translated from Portuguese)

Website of the Museum. http://www.museuafrobrasil.org.br/