Ideas of Africa: Portraiture and Political Imagination — Exploring African Portraiture and Modernity

Ideas of Africa: Portraiture and Political Imagination — Exploring African Portraiture and Modernity

 


At The Museum of Modern Art, Ideas of Africa: Portraiture and Political Imagination explores a transformative era in African history, when photography became a powerful tool for self-expression, identity, and cultural dialogue. Spanning the 1950s through the 1970s, the exhibition features portraiture from across West and Central Africa, capturing the dynamic social, political, and aesthetic shifts surrounding independence. 

The works reflect how people used photography to assert presence, explore modernity, and connect across local and transnational communities. The exhibition is currently on view at The Museum of Modern Art, running through July 25th, 2026, offering an opportunity to engage with select images from this pivotal period.

 

Portraiture as Presence

In the mid-twentieth century, having one’s portrait taken carried weight. Photographs were not casual; they were intentional acts of self-representation. This is evident in an image of two young women photographed in Senegal. Rather than a studio setting, the women are situated within the rhythm of their own environment, allowing the portrait to capture more than appearance—it reflects place, intention, and presence.

Their composed posture and thoughtful expression convey confidence and self-awareness. During Senegal’s transition toward independence, images like this made visible forms of modernity that unfolded beyond urban centers. The portrait highlights how African modernity was diverse, locally grounded, and actively shaped through self-presentation and visibility.

The Studio as a Space of Imagination

Following independence, photography studios offered spaces where identity could be explored and reimagined. In Bobo-Dioulasso, Sanlé Sory’s Volta Photo studio became a site where sitters could experiment with aspiration, performance, and persona. Clients arrived with ideas about how they wanted to be perceived, using clothing, posture, and props to signal possibility rather than reality.

Some portraits suggest movement and ambition; others channel confidence or global awareness. The studio served as a collaborative environment, a space where creativity, self-fashioning, and projection converged. Sory’s work demonstrates how portraiture could extend beyond documentation, allowing individuals to envision themselves within new social and national landscapes.

Hair as Design and Memory

In Nigeria, J.D. ‘Okhai Ojeikere developed a decades-long practice of photographing hairstyles, transforming hair into a site of design, tradition, and identity. His images emphasize structure, rhythm, and variation, highlighting how cultural practices can reflect and shape social life.

Hair becomes a medium through which creativity, history, and modernity intersect. Styles range from simple to highly intricate, illustrating both continuity and innovation. Within the exhibition, Ojeikere’s work reminds us that the body itself can carry meaning, and hair can carry identity.  

Diaspora and Fragmentation

Contemporary artist Silvia Rosi extends these themes into the African diaspora. Drawing on family photographs from Italy and Togo, she recreates images of her parents while placing herself in the frame, exploring questions of belonging, memory, and identity across generations.

In Sposa togolese disintegrata (Disintegrated Togolese Wife), fragmentation of the photograph mirrors the experience of navigating a new cultural context. The work illustrates how identity can be simultaneously constructed, deconstructed, and reassembled, highlighting the ongoing dialogue between past and present. Rosi’s work underscores that self-representation is an active process, influenced by both history and imagination.

Why These Stories Matter Today

Together, these portraits reveal photography as a tool for agency, reflection, and aspiration. From Senegal to Nigeria, from Bobo-Dioulasso studios to contemporary diaspora reinterpretations the images demonstrate how people asserted control over their representation during times of profound change.

At Kushe, this exhibition resonates because it reflects how culture travels, evolves, and carries meaning. It reminds us that identity is curated through creativity, memory, and intention. Ideas of Africa illustrates that modernity in Africa was never singular, but layered, expressive, and deliberately constructed — a lesson that continues to inspire how we engage with design, art, and storytelling today.

The Kushé Journal explores culture, place, and design across Africa and its diaspora.

Works Cited

  • Ideas of Africa: Portraiture and Political Imagination, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, on view through July 25, 2026.

Photo Credits

  • Oumar Ka, Two Women with Thatched Roof House, 1959–68. Gelatin silver print. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. © Oumar Ka Estate, courtesy Axis Gallery, NY.

  • J. D. ‘Okhai Ojeikere, Hairstyle Project (selected images), 1960s–2000s. © Estate of J. D. ‘Okhai Ojeikere.

  • Sanlé Sory, Volta Photo Studio Portraits, Bobo-Dioulasso, 1960s. © Estate of Sanlé Sory.

  • Silvia Rosi, Sposa togolese disintegrata, 2020. Courtesy of the artist.

  • Images curated and visualized by Kushe Designs from MoMA press materials.

     

© Kushé Designs — Culture in every detail.

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