Ideas of Africa: Portraiture and Political Imagination

Ideas of Africa: Portraiture and Political Imagination brings together works that investigate how Africa has been represented through portraiture and how artists have engaged, resisted, and redefined these representations over time. The exhibition considers portraiture not simply as depiction, but as a political and imaginative act—one that constructs narratives about identity, belonging, and authority. Spanning historical and contemporary works, the exhibition highlights how artists across different periods and geographies have addressed colonial legacies, cultural memory, and the complexities of diasporic identity. Through painting, photography, sculpture, and mixed media, the works on view challenge fixed or monolithic conceptions of Africa, instead presenting a multiplicity of perspectives shaped by lived experience, migration, and global exchange. Presented by the Museum of Modern Art, Ideas of Africa situates portraiture as a site of negotiation between self-representation and external perception. The exhibition invites viewers to consider how images produce meaning and how artistic practices can reframe dominant narratives. The exhibition runs through July 25, 2026, in New York.