This fall, the Saint Louis Art Museum will present its largest institutionally organized ticketed exhibition of sub-Saharan African art.
Featuring both historic and contemporary art, “Narrative Wisdom and African Arts” will open with a public preview and opening performance on Friday, Oct. 18. It remains on view through Feb. 16, 2025.
The exhibition brings together more than 150 works in a variety of media including sculptures, textiles, works on paper, photography, painting and time-based media created by artists from sub-Saharan Africa as well as contemporary African artists working globally. The exhibition considers how historic and contemporary works—ranging from the 13th to 21st centuries—facilitate, document, reinforce or critique narratives, such as leadership legitimacy, memory of place, prescriptions for healing and destiny, and enduring ancestral wisdoms.
“ ‘Narrative Wisdom’ provides an opportunity for audiences to appreciate deep connections between visual and verbal storytelling in African art from across a range of times and geographies,” said Nichole N. Bridges, SLAM’s curator of African art and the curator for the exhibition. “By bringing together sacred and ceremonial objects with everyday pieces, unique objects with mass-produced items, and contemporary art with works from the 19th century and earlier, this exhibition will help audiences see more clearly the connections between these important, recurring themes and their enduring relevance.”
“Narrative Wisdom” presents nearly 50 works from the museum’s collection along with objects on loan from museums and private collections around the world. Works from SLAM’s collection include 16 given in 1983 by Morton D. May—the museum’s most prolific donor—as well 18 more recent acquisitions that have enriched the growing African art collection.
The exhibition unfolds across a series of thematically focused sections, beginning with “Prelude: Oral Traditions.” This introductory gallery presents visitors with the multisensory contexts of African oral traditions. Featuring the 2019 sound art installation “Ties That Bind,” by Emeka Ogboh, this section emphasizes the ongoing importance of oral traditions. This section also includes musical instruments and sculptures that portray musicians.
Kings or chiefs reinforced the oral histories that legitimized their rule or pronounced their larger ambitions and legacies by commissioning works of art that would inspire and endure. The “Leadership and Power Play” section showcases a diverse range of objects, from historic West and Central African kingdoms and chieftaincies to modern Pan-African nations, including an early to mid-20th century monumental relief-carved palace door by Yoruba artist Areogun of Osi-Ilorin and an array of historic chiefs’ chairs masterfully carved by Chokwe artists. Selections from 2008’s African Spirits, in which photographer Samuel Fosso employs his signature mode of self-portraiture to embody mid-20th century Pan-African leaders, including Haile Selassie and Nelson Mandela, will also be on view in this section.
Artworks in the “Memory: Place and Commemoration” section visualize individual and collective memory to commemorate personal or communal experiences and histories. Many works challenge linear constructs of time, suggesting the fluidity of memory. In the 2010 sculpture, “Relative” by Sokari Douglas Camp, the artist references Kalabari memorial traditions to critique oil extraction and its adverse effects on the ecologies of waterways in the eastern Niger Delta region.
An early 20th century divination gourd (mboko) made by a Luba artist is one of a diverse array of media on view in the “Foretelling: Destiny and Healing” section. The artworks on display underscore the importance of these practices in resolving personal challenges or conflicts among individuals or communities.
The final section, “Ancestral Wisdoms and Allegory” examines arts that reinforced communal knowledge generation, such as Asafo flags made by Fante artists and “Hommage aux anciens créateurs,” a 1994 painting by Chéri Samba. Artworks that communicate proverbs or wisdoms visually or through written messages are also presented here.
Outside the ticketed galleries, satellite installations elsewhere in the museum continue the exploration of the exhibition’s themes. Selected short films from “Stories of Our Lives” by the Nest Collective, based in Kenya, will be presented in Gallery 301, and permanent collection works related to the exhibition will be on view in Morton D. May and Louis D. Beaumont Foundation Gallery 117, which regularly displays sub-Saharan African art.
“Narrative Wisdom” will be accompanied by an audio guide and a 240-page catalogue with contributions by 11 authors. The exhibition is curated by Nichole N. Bridges with curatorial assistant Amy Clark and research assistant Elyse D. Schaeffer. The development of the exhibition was supported by a community advisory group comprised of local members representing St. Louis’s African and Black diasporic communities. Their perspectives contributed to content interpretation, programming, audience development and messaging, which will enrich the overall visitor experience.
A host of programs are scheduled during the run of the exhibition. An opening program on Oct. 18 will feature a curator lecture and performance by master kora player Yacouba Sissoko and his band SIYA. The exhibition will also be the focus of the Oct. 20 Family Sunday celebration, the Oct. 25 SLAM Underground event and a contemporary artist panel discussion in December.
CONTACT: Molly Morris, 314.655.5250, molly.morris@slam.org
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