Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
The Here Project: Pride and Belonging in African Art

The Here Project: Pride and Belonging in African Art

Moses, Serubiri
Dumouchelle, Kevin D.
Wainaina, Binyavanga

Hardcover

African ArtGeneral ArtGLBTQIA Studies

Publisher Price: $40.00

ISBN10: 1588348067
ISBN13: 9781588348067
Publisher: Smithsonian Books
Published: Sep 15 2026
Pages: 264
Weight: 3.15
Height: 1.00 Width: 8.40 Depth: 11.10
Language: English
200 stunning images in this companion book to the Smithsonian's National Museum of African Art exhibition celebrate 70 LGBTQ] African artists

We are here. This powerful volume platforms artists whose work reflects their identities and experiences as African LGBTQ+ individuals. This is the largest survey of out queer African artists of its kind. Based on years of close collaboration and dialogue with these artists and their communities, The Here Project demonstrates how they are a part of a larger, joyful story of African art history. At the same time, the LGBTQ+ experience in Africa is not monolithic. Political, social, and cultural freedoms and limits vary widely across both the continent and the wider diaspora, and the artists represented here help readers recognize that diversity.

More than 200 stunning images represent a range of media, including painting, photography, digital art, fashion, installation, and performance. The empowering and evocative imagery makes their lived and artistic experiences visible: Athi-Patra Ruga's tapestry Versatile Queen presents himself as Versatile Queen Ivy, one of his favorite avatars inspired by Rihanna and the legend of Lady Godiva, to confront normative ideas of Blackness and masculinity, while Zanele Muholi's self-portrait Muholi Muholi, Parktown uses makeup and saturation to highlight the blackness of their skin tone in contrast to prevailing representations of Black women.

The text approaches artworks at an intimate level and places them in larger historical and artistic contexts. Grouping the works in thematic sections draws parallels across art and fosters ongoing conversations:

  • Family explores how birth and chosen families shape awareness of self and the world
  • Intimacy considers self-realization through close connections such as loving interactions, deep companionship, and physical intimacy
  • Joy focuses on stories of happiness, connection, and pleasure that demonstrate resilience
  • Spirit represents African faith traditions and shows space for queer people
  • Fluidity disrupts expectations and transcends social conventions, including gendered categories
  • Belong asserts how queer people's experiences are rooted in the larger history and cultures that shaped them
  • Action expresses political activism with artists defending their communities and advancing their rights
  • Futures presents utopian visions of a world to come in which LGBTQ+ individuals are affirmed and thriving

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