Event Details

How has African art been evaluated and valued—and by whom? That is the question guiding this presentation of more than 250 sculptures from dozens of distinct cultures across the African continent. It is an exploration that seeks to decolonize the Western aesthetic standards long placed on these objects and to elevate the local indigenous perspectives of the works’ makers and communities. Whether beautiful, ugly, or something that defies these categories, The Language of Beauty in African Art celebrates these objects and the philosophical, social, political, and religious implications for the communities that incorporated, or still incorporate, them into ceremonial and ritual practices and everyday life. In sharing these unfamiliar perspectives, the exhibition also invites viewers to examine their own ideas about beauty and question the influences that impact how we assess and appreciate works of art.