We Call It Africa: Sub-Saharan Artists at Officine dell'Immagine, Milan

The exhibition 'We call it “Africa”. Artisti dall’Africa Subsahariana' at Officine dell'Immagine in Milan challenges the colonial division of Africa by the Sahara, presenting Sub-Saharan art as diverse and dignified. Curated to reclaim the continent's image from within, the show features artists from Benin, South Africa, Nigeria, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Maurice Mbikayi, born in Kinshasa and still based there, opens the show with photographic works where he wears computer-keyboard costumes, performing as a jester to explore black/white dualism. Marcia Kure (b. 1970, Nigeria) blends traditional African female drawing with collage and overlay, symbolizing cultural globalization and her own nomadic experience. Bronwyn Katz (b. 1993, South Africa) presents the 2015 video 'Grond Herinnering (Soil Memory)', in which she washes her feet and legs in South African earth, regressing to childhood to reclaim her connection to the land. Dimitri Fagbohoun (b. 1972, Benin, of African and Ukrainian descent) merges African identity aesthetics with Western formal art in installations that address history and identity. The exhibition runs at Officine dell'Immagine in Milan.