MoMA’s upcoming exhibition traces how photographic portraiture shaped transnational solidarity and cultural identity across Africa and its diaspora.
Sanlé Sory. Traveller (Le Voyageur), 1970–85. Gelatin silver print. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Committee on Photography Fund, 1102.2018. © 2024 Sanlé Sory, courtesy Yossi Milo Gallery, New York.
The Museum of Modern Art announces ‘Ideas of Africa: Portraiture and Political Imagination’, a focused exhibition exploring the transformative power of photographic portraits in articulating Pan-African subjectivity and imagination. Opening on December 14, 2025, and running through July 25, 2026, the exhibition positions portraiture as both a medium and a catalyst for political thought, bridging the African continent and its diaspora during pivotal historical moments.
This exhibition marks the third major MoMA presentation celebrating the 2019 gift of modern and contemporary African art from Jean Pigozzi, one of the most significant private collectors of African art. ‘Ideas of Africa’ brings together core works from this gift alongside recent acquisitions and key loans, emphasising how photography circulated ideas of African identity and solidarity across continents.
Organised by Oluremi C. Onabanjo, The Peter Schub Curator, with assistance from Chiara M. Mannarino, Curatorial Assistant in The Robert B. Menschel Department of Photography, the exhibition is conceptually informed by V. Y. Mudimbe’s 1994 study The Idea of Africa and Robin D. G. Kelley’s Africa Speaks, America Answers (2012). By foregrounding the relationship between image-making and the construction of political ideas, the exhibition highlights the role of photography in envisioning a Pan-African consciousness.
The exhibition focuses on the “golden age of African portraiture,” featuring seminal photographers such as Seydou Keïta, Malick Sidibé, Jean Depara, Sanlé Sory, and Ambroise Ngaimoko. Working across key urban centres in West and Central Africa during the mid-20th century, these artists captured the elegance, dignity, and creativity of their subjects, offering a visual testament to individual and collective identity.
Beyond the African continent, ‘Ideas of Africa’ examines the transatlantic dimensions of Pan-African thought through the work of photographers such as James Barnor and Kwame Brathwaite, whose images documented diasporic communities in the United States and the Caribbean. Their images reveal how ideas of African identity circulated globally, shaping cultural imagination and political engagement across continents.
Contemporary artists of African descent, including Samuel Fosso, Silvia Rosi, and Njideka Akunyili Crosby, further expand the exhibition’s scope. Their works, alongside ephemera drawn from the archive of the contemporary artist collective Air Afrique, illuminate the ongoing relevance and evolution of Pan-African modes of portraiture. By tracing connections across time and space, the exhibition underscores photography’s enduring role in shaping dialogue, memory, and identity.
Oluremi C. Onabanjo emphasises the exhibition’s historical and political resonance: “As we continue to witness transformative shifts in the global geopolitical order, it is instructive to revisit a moment in history that saw the disintegration of colonial territories and the formation of transnational solidarity across the African continent and diaspora. This exhibition locates dazzling modes of Pan-African possibility in images made by inventive photographers who registered and beckoned in new worlds.”
A dedicated reading room will accompany the exhibition, providing visitors with access to a selection of historical and contemporary photobooks and publications. This space honours the aspirations of knowledge production and highlights how photographic images proliferated through print media during the decolonial era.
In conjunction with the exhibition, MoMA will publish a richly illustrated catalogue featuring a lead essay by Onabanjo, contributions from poet Momtaza Mehri and film critic Yasmina Price, and key texts by Brent Hayes Edwards and V. Y. Mudimbe. The catalogue aims to contextualise the works within broader historical, cultural, and political frameworks, offering a resource for both scholars and general audiences.
Ahead of the exhibition, MoMA’s Department of Research Programs will host Reimagining Liberation: An Open Study Session on October 8, 2024, providing a forum to introduce the exhibition’s themes and explore the intersections of photography, Pan-African thought, and political imagination.
‘Ideas of Africa: Portraiture and Political Imagination’ is made possible through generous leadership support from the Jon Stryker Endowment Fund, The International Council of MoMA, Denise Littlefield Sobel, Jerry I. Speyer and Katherine G. Farley, and The Black Arts Council of MoMA, alongside contributions from the Anne Levy Charitable Trust and the Annual Exhibition Fund. Additional funding is provided by a range of private donors, foundations, and philanthropic organisations committed to advancing the Museum’s mission and collection initiatives.
By centring the photographic portrait as a lens for understanding Pan-African identity and solidarity, ‘Ideas of Africa’ invites audiences to reconsider the interplay of art, history, and politics. The exhibition offers a rare opportunity to witness how images—produced, circulated, and reimagined—have shaped the contours of African and diasporic consciousness, creating spaces for dialogue, reflection, and imagination that continue to resonate today.
The exhibition will open on December 14, 2025, and will be on view until January 25, 2026. For more information, please visit the MoMA website.
