Can a photographic portrait inspire political imagination?
In an ambitious thematic exhibition, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) examines how photographers and their models contributed to the rise of Pan-African solidarity in the mid-20th century.e century.
Portrait photography has long been a privileged space where collective narratives as well as individual identities are constructed. In the African context, it has also played a decisive role in the emergence of new representations at the time of independence and pan-African solidarity movements.
Presented at MoMA in New York, the exhibition "Ideas of Africa: Portraiture and Political Imagination" explores precisely this political and cultural dimension of photographic portraiture, through a transatlantic dialogue rooted in the dynamics of decolonization and the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. As one moves through the exhibition rooms, one gradually has the feeling of entering a rich and profoundly diverse African universe: a visual world where images reveal a continent that is at once fascinating, beautiful, and deeply grounded in reality.
© Yossi Milo Gallery
This project is part of a broader MoMA initiative focused on modern and contemporary African art, bringing together works from the 2019 donation by collector Jean Pigozzi, complemented by recent acquisitions and major loans. Organized by Oluremi C. Onabanjo, curator in the museum's photography department, the exhibition draws inspiration from philosopher VY Mudimbe's seminal book, The Idea of AfricaIt therefore proposes to reflect on how Africa has been constituted as a notion in circulation, between the continent and its diaspora.
At the heart of the exhibition are photographs from the period often called the "golden age of African portraiture," taken in several urban centers in West and Central Africa. The studios of photographers such as Seydou Keïta, Malick Sidibé, Jean Depara, Sanlé Sory, and Ambroise Ngaimoko became places where a renewed image of modern Africa was forged. In these portraits, the subjects present themselves with confidence. Their clothing, poses, and accessories contribute to the construction of a visual identity that reflects both the social transformations and the aspirations of a generation committed to redefining its image and its future.
As one progresses through the exhibition, one also understands the extent to which these images have spread beyond their original context. The works of James Barnor and Kwame Brathwaite reveal how these visual imaginaries traveled between Africa, Europe, and the United States, contributing to the formation of a transatlantic vision of Pan-Africanism.
The exhibition also places these photographic archives in dialogue with the work of contemporary artists of African origin, including Samuel Fosso, Silvia Rosi, and Njideka Akunyili Crosby. Their works extend this reflection on identity and representation, while exploring how images continue to circulate and transform in the contemporary world.
The circulation of images is, in fact, one of the central themes of the project. Archival documents and objects collected by the Air Afrique artists' collective demonstrate how Pan-African ideas spread through visual media, magazines, and books.
A reading room located at the heart of the exhibition further enriches this reflection. It pays homage to the visual culture of the decolonization era, when photographic images were widely disseminated in newspapers and publications. Visitors can consult a selection of photography books and historical journals that contributed to spreading these new representations of the continent.
What is striking about "Ideas of Africa" is the way these portraits manage to combine beauty, reality, and political imagination. The images are not merely individual representations; they become the visual traces of a historical moment when Africa was reinventing itself through photography.
More than just a portrait exhibition, the project highlights the power of images in shaping collective imaginations. Photography appears here as a tool for memory, but also as a space where new visions of the world take shape.
“Ideas of Africa: Portraiture and Political Imagination”
Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)
11 West 53rd Street, New York (United States)
Until July 25, 2026
