The High Museum of Art is the first venue in the United States to present this major touring exhibition, which offers a fresh look at African design through a myriad of diverse works by more than 120 artists. Ranging from playful to provocative to political, the works include sculpture, prints, fashion, furniture, film, photography, apps, maps, digital comics, and more.
Past Exhibition
Making Africa: A Continent of Contemporary Design
October 14, 2017 – January 7, 2018
Look 12. Birds of Paradise, autumn/winter 2013/ 2014 collection
Duro Olowu (Nigerian, born 1965)
Cape, embroidered pure silk. Pants, silk and viscose. Top, viscose, georgette, silk
© Photo by Luis Monteiro
Image courtesy of Duro Olowu
African Sun, 2012
Cyrus Kabiru (Kenyan, born 1984)
Image from the C-Stunners photography series
© Cyrus Kabiru, photo: Antony Wachira
The Madonna, from The Untold Renaissance series, 2014
Ikiré Jones
Wool and silk
Collection of Vitra Design Museum
© Walé Oyéjidé
Lethabo Tsatsinyane, photographed for Dazed Magazine from the Smarteez series, 2010
Chris Saunders (South African, born 1984)
Archival inkjet print on Hahnemule Museum Etching Paper
Collection of the artist
© Chris Saunders
Photo courtesy PAPA Photographic Archival and Preservation Association, Kapstadt/Cape Town
Ponte City, Windows, 2009
Mikhael Subotzky (South African, born 1981)
Duratran print
© Mikhael Subotzky & Patrick Waterhouse
Courtesy Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg
Taali M, 2012
Pierre-Christophe Gam (French, born 1983)
Image from website for the French-Congolese
Collection of the artist
© Pierre-Christophe Gam
Sansa armchair, Sessel, 2010
Cheick Diallo (Malian, born 1960
Metal, nylon, and cords
Collection of the Vitra Design Museum
© Cheick Diallo
Africa’s Legends, image from game, 2013
Leti Arts (Eyram Tawia and Wesley Kirinya)
Digital comic and mobile game series
Collection of the artists
© Leti Arts
Overview
The exhibition offers a vision of Africa in the twenty-first century as a place of unbounded optimism, rapid growth, and massive cultural transformation and presents the continent as a hub of experimentation that generates innovative design approaches and solutions with worldwide relevance. Making Africa focuses on a generation of entrepreneurs, thinkers, and designers from and within Africa who address a global audience and provide the world with a new vantage point on their continent. The exhibition also illustrates how the artists use their work to effect significant economic, social, and political change.
More Details
For more information about this exhibition, please visit the Making Africa website.
Press
Making Africa: A Continent of Contemporary Design was organized by
Funded By
Major funding is provided by
Premier Exhibition Series Partner
Exhibition Series Sponsors
Premier Exhibition Series Supporters
Anne Cox Chambers Foundation, The Antinori Foundation, Ann and Tom Cousins, Sarah and Jim Kennedy, Jane and Hicks Lanier, Louise Sams and Jerome Grilhot
Contributing Exhibition Series Supporters
Barbara and Ron Balser, Corporate Environments, Peggy Foreman, James F. Kelly Charitable Trust, Jane Smith Turner Foundation, The Lubo Fund, Margot and Danny McCaul, Joyce and Henry Schwob
Generous support is also provided by
Alfred and Adele Davis Exhibition Endowment Fund, Anne Cox Chambers Exhibition Fund, Barbara Stewart Exhibition Fund, Dorothy Smith Hopkins Exhibition Endowment Fund, Eleanor McDonald Storza Exhibition Endowment Fund, Forward Arts Foundation Exhibition Endowment Fund, Helen S. Lanier Endowment Fund, Howell Exhibition Fund, John H. and Wilhelmina D. Harland Exhibition Endowment Fund