Pan-Africanism in Art: A Touring Exhibition Maps Identity and Influence

The exhibition Tracing the Thread: Pan-Africanism in Art and Action has opened at the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Zeitz MOCAA) in Cape Town. It features over 70 works, including paintings, films, sculptures, and archival materials that explore Pan-Africanism's evolution from the 1920s to today.

Curator Tumelo Mosaka describes the exhibition as 'a reflection on the ways Pan-Africanism has shaped cultural production across geography and time.' He emphasizes works that 'question whether Pan-Africanism is an ideal, a lived reality, or something in-between.' This tension is evident in the exhibition's three sections: Origins and Ideals, Post-Independence Narratives, and Contemporary Reimaginings.

Among the displayed works are archival photographs from the 1945 Pan-African Congress in Manchester, where W.E.B. Du Bois and Kwame Nkrumah envisioned decolonization. These artifacts share space with contemporary pieces like Ibrahim Mahama’s Parliament of Ghosts (2019), an installation made from salvaged materials that symbolizes colonial remnants and communal renewal. Mahama told ARTDESENT, 'Pan-Africanism is a lens for seeing how we might rebuild from the fragments of the past.'

Juliana Huxtable’s A Split During Laughter at the Rally (2017) is another highlight. This large-scale digital print explores the complexities of race, gender, and diaspora. Huxtable’s imagery challenges simplistic narratives, reflecting the intricacies of Pan-African identity in a globalized context. The exhibition features artists from 18 countries, extending beyond Africa to its diasporas in the Americas, the Caribbean, and Europe.

Zeitz MOCAA, the exhibition’s first venue, is a converted grain silo on Cape Town’s V&A Waterfront. Critics have questioned its connection to the communities it represents. Hosting Tracing the Thread may help recalibrate its public role. Mosaka stated, 'The choice to launch here is deliberate, as Cape Town represents both a site of colonial history and a city of cultural convergence.'

The exhibition will travel to the Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM) in early 2024 and the Musée Théodore Monod in Dakar later that year, fostering transatlantic dialogue. PAMM director Franklin Sirmans noted, 'This exhibition is as much about the future as it is about the past.'

Critical questions linger: Has Pan-Africanism lost its political potency, or is its cultural expression a necessary evolution? Binyavanga Wainaina remarked, 'Pan-Africanism as a political project may have failed, but as an aesthetic, it thrives.' This exhibition leans into the latter, positioning art as a vital strategy for sustaining and redefining the movement’s relevance.

The catalogue released for the Cape Town opening features essays by Achille Mbembe, Françoise Vergès, and Kobena Mercer. Mbembe interrogates the 'metaphysics of Africa' in visual culture, while Mercer examines the term 'Afropolitan' and its contested implications for identity. These critical perspectives situate the exhibition within broader discourses on race, representation, and postcolonialism.

As the exhibition travels, its impact will depend on audience engagement. Will it reignite political action, or remain an aesthetic celebration? The exhibition's strength lies in its refusal to resolve these tensions, insisting on a dialogue that mirrors the multiplicity of Pan-African identity.