Critique

Samson Mnisi, Arreola II, XXX, Mixed Media, 179.6 x 86 cm. Detail. Artworks © Artist. Photo © Vela Projects (Mia Thom).

Artist Portrait

Samson Mnisi: A Master Posthumously Receives His Due

A recent Samson Mnisi exhibition was a testament to how the artist could invite viewers into a spiritual place he occupied.

Med Hondo on the set of Soleil Ô, 1970. © Med Hondo

Film et Cinema 

Interventions des images dans «The African Gaze» (Le regard africain)

Prolongeant la réflexion sur les pratiques de l’image en Afrique, «The African Gaze» d’Amy Sall ouvre de nouvelles perspectives.

Libation March through the city of Ouagadougou during FESPACO 2025. Photo: Makella Ama.

Film et cinéma

Le FESPACO 2025 a fait place à cérémonie du cinéma africain

Fondé en 1969, le FESPACO, se réinvente, tout en restant à l'écoute des possibilités politiques et alchimiques du cinéma.

Soñ Gweha, Nyum Elucubris, 2018. Courtesy of the artist.

Revue

« Apprendre à Flamboyer » : pratiquer la joie collective au Palais de Tokyo

La curatrice Amandine Nana réunit des pratiques de célébration et de rassemblement comme instruments de résistance dans sa toute dernière exposition.

Installation views, 'The Other Side of Now’, courtesy of Zeitz MOCAA. Photograph by Dillon Marsh.

Film & Cinema

Histoire et fiction : le travail de mémoire cinématographique de Tuan Andrew Nguyen

Vusumzi Nkomo revient sur The Other Side of Now au Zeitz MOCAA, une exposition qui examine le passé et les effets persistants de la guerre impériale.

(clockwise) Manyaku Mashilo, Passage to Prayer (detail), 2023. Credit: Hayden Phipps & Southern Guild Archives. Courtesy of the artist; Tatenda Chidora, Self isolation II, 2021. Ilford Gold fibre Pearl 290gsm, 102cm x 132cm. Courtesy of the artist; Anaïs Cheleux, Mas Maten, Guadeloupe, shot on digital camera, 2016. Courtesy of the artist; Glicéria Tupinambá, Manto tupinambá [Tupinambá Mantle], 2023. Courtesy of the artist. Foto: Glicéria Tupinambá; Elizabeth Catlett, African American, 2009, MUSEUM MMK FÜR MODERNE KUNST, © Elizabeth Catlett Family Trust / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2023, photo: Axel Schneider.

Year-in-Review

C& Highlights of 2024

It has been another year of expanding networks, fostering dynamic collaborations, and producing exceptional art writing.

Myles Igwe, Ndi Nwanyi , 2024. Installation view at 14th Recontres de Bamako. Courtesy of the  Bamako Biennale.

14e Biennale africaine de la photographie

L’esprit résilient de la Biennale de Bamako

Le principal festival de photographie du continent est un cri à l'autonomie africaine et une plateforme pour de nouvelles voix, écrit Obidike Okafor.

Wangechi Mutu, A Palace in Pieces, 2024. Installation view at 15th Dakar Biennale. Courtesy of DakArtNews.

Dak'Art 2024

Une plateforme puissante qui reste ouverte au dialogue critique autour de l’art, de l’écologie et de l’histoire

Haja Fanta analyse la célèbre biennale et en interroge la cohérence conceptuelle tout en admirant sa composition.

Still from Dahomey by Matt Diop.

Restitution

Tracing the Then and Now of Restitution Through Mati Diop’s Documentary Fantasy Dahomey

Can the French restitution of some of Benin’s royal treasures constitute a new beginning? Mati Diop’s new film, Dahomey, delves this question.

Tesfaye Urgessa, detail  from on of his works of the series

60th Venice Biennale

Breaking New Ground with an Ethiopian Pavilion

For Dagmawit Abebaw Hunz the inaugural pavilion of Ethiopia shines, but also brings up colonial wounds and art-world inequalities.

Helena Uambembe, In memory We love, 2022. Installation view at Njabala Foundation. Photo: Royal Kenogo.

Njabala Foundation

An Exhibition that Welcomed Grief at the Door and Pulled out a Chair

On a curatorial trip to Kampala, curator Rosie Olang’ Odhiambo shares her impressions in a letter to a loved one in Nairobi.

Installation view of Giants: Art from the Dean Collection. Photo: Paula Abreu Pita.

Giants: Art from the Dean Collection of Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys

A Show of Parallels and Superlatives

C&'s Nan Collymore visited the highly acclaimed exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum and found many things to fall in love with.