Africa Is a Country

The narrative of African women

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The narrative of African women

By
Anni Lyngskaer

An exhibit attempts to reframe popular perceptions and the image of African women in the United States. 

Credit: Delphine Diallo.

The work of French-Senegalese artist, Delphine Diallo reflects the effects of her migration and travel between North America, Europe and Africa. About her work, she has said, “I treat my process as if it were an adventure liberating a new protagonist.”

Elsewhere, Diallo has said: “So many black women who have been abused, disrespected, betrayed understand the power of healing because they had no other choice to carry on with life. For centuries, the Patriarchal society transformed the black woman body as an object. i want to bring a great new vision of black female archetypes: the explorer, the queen, the goddess, the innocent, the sage, the mother, the caregiver, the ruler, the lover, the spiritual warrior, the magician, the everywoman, so many others.”

That quest of liberation is central to the Sauti Yetu Center for African Women, organizers of the exhibit, “Shift: Images and Narratives of African Women in Movement,” with Brooklyn College Women’s Studies Program present.  Diallo is among the women photographers exhibited in the exhibit.  Shift attempts to reframe the popular perception and image of African women in the United States.

Curator Bianca Mona, in an interview, described the mixed media exhibit as showcasing a potpourri of internationally acclaimed artists and New York City-based representatives of the diversity of the African continent who hail from Ethiopia, Nigeria, Ghana, and Egypt, among others.

The images and artwork displayed in this exhibit offer a window into the experiences of African immigrant women as they shift, challenge and negotiate the complexities of their lives.

In the video, below, AIAC’s Anni Lyngskaer talk with Mona about the exhibition.

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