1-54 Marrakesh : Amoako Boafo, Zanele Muholi, Rita Mawuena Benissan

La Mamounia, 8 - 11 Feb 2024 
Gallery 1957 is thrilled to showcase a group of three artists who present relational knowledges through the mediums of portraiture, photography and textiles.

Anchoring the expansive roster of artists, Amoako Boafo’s iconic approach to Black figuration situates the gaze as an intellectual space to explore the real and imagined worlds of global Black communities. Acclaimed for his enticing finger-painted portraits, Boafo’s work has become landmarked in the pictorial subset of art history.
 
Rita Mawuena Benissan reimagines cultural knowledges and archives by reconfiguring the role of the royal umbrella from a historical symbolic object to artisanal tapestry. Traditionally, the fabric covering of a ceremonial umbrella is realised in coloured textiles such as damask or velvet, or in a woven cloth such as kente, but Benissan reimagines this tradition.
The artist works collaboratively with the same artisans at the royal Ashanti village in Kumasi that ordinarily create chiefs' umbrellas, bringing to life archival images of individual figures and collective scenes through embroidery on velvet.
 
Zanele Muholi’s powerful and self-reflective images return the gaze as a form of visual activism.Muholi turns the camera on themself in the ongoing series Somnyama Ngonyama–translated as ‘Hail the Dark Lioness’. These powerful and reflective images explore themes including labour, racism, Eurocentrism and sexual politics. By spotlighting marginalised communities, Muholi’s monochrome portraits advocate for the representation of the LGBTQ community in South Africa and beyond.

We look forward to exhibiting these groundbreaking artists at Booth 1 at 1-54 Marrakech from 8th - 11th January 2024.
 
Opening Times
 

VIP & Press Preview

from Thursday 08th to Friday 09th February

11:00 – 19:00

 

Public opening hours

Saturday 10th February

11:00 – 19:00

Sunday 11th February

11:00 – 18:00

 

Location:

La Mamounia

Avenue Bad Jdid,

Marrakech 40040,

Morocco