Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture > Exhibitions

The Art of African Women: Empowering Traditions

From November 1, 2002 through May 31, 2003
American Negro Theatre and Exhibition Hall and Latimer/Edison Gallery
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, 515 Malcolm X Boulevard, New York, NY 10037-1801 (directions)

The Art of African Women: Empowering Traditions exhibition and program series presents an unprecedented survey of African artistic traditions that have been passed down from mothers to daughters for centuries. The exhibition features more than 75 stunning photographs by internationally acclaimed photojournalist Margaret Courtney-Clarke. Captured during her twenty-year quest to document traditions in South, West, and North Africa, the images pay homage to the beauty African women have created in their lives despite social, political, and economic upheavals. Courtney-Clarke, who was born and raised in Namibia, introduced this body of work to the world in her books Ndebele, African Canvas, and Imazighen. The photographs on view are complemented by more than 30 objects, many of which have been photographed with their creators.

The exhibition surveys traditional interior and exterior housing design, pottery, weaving, and other decorative arts. One of the highlights is the creation of a major architectural mural at the Schomburg Center by internationally renowned Ndebele traditional artist Francina Ndimande and her daughter Angelina Ndimande, who will travel from their home in Mabhoko, South Africa for the opening weeks of the project period. Two of their teenage students from the Ndebele Foundation Cultural Centre in Mabhoko will accompany them to New York. The project also includes a children's exhibition with special educational materials and a series of public programs offering workshops, films, forums, and performances by women of African descent. View video introduction.