The Way She Looks: A History of Female Gazes in African Portraiture - Photographs from the Walther Collection

摘要

Facing each other in a way symbolic of a shift from forced submission to agency, the two separated galleries that house The Way She Looks: A History of Female Gazes in African Portraiture focus on the Black female body from dual perspectives, as both sitter and photographer, over 200 years. Guest curated by Sandrine Colard, the exhibition draws upon the vast private Walther Collection, including photographs, prints, cartes de visite, postcards, albums, illustrations, videos, and books from as early as the 19th century, and concentrating on western, southern, and eastern Africa. Utilizing this collection, Colard juxtaposes often static archival photographs of subservient, colonial subjects with far more dynamic images taken by 20th- and 21st-century African artists who reclaim the lens and the gaze, using Black femininity as their catalyst.