Afro-Atlantic Histories
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston - October 24, 2021–January 17, 2022
In January 2021, I took over the responsibilities of the in-house curator of the first American installation of the critically acclaimed Brazilian exhibition Afro-Atlantic Histories. The exhibition premiered in 2018 at the Museu de Arte de São Paulo (MASP) in Brazil. The American tour of the exhibition was reconstituted by Dr. Kanitra Fletcher during her tenure at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston before taking her new position at the National Gallery of Art in 2021. The exhibition will travel to the National Gallery of Art in the Spring of 2022 and will travel to more venues to be announced at a later date.
Afro-Atlantic Histories dynamically juxtaposes works by artists from 24 countries, representing evolving perspectives across time and geography through major paintings, drawings and prints, sculptures, photographs, time-based media art, and ephemera. The range extends from historical paintings by Frans Post, Jean- Baptiste Debret, and Dirk Valkenburg to contemporary works by Ibrahim Mahama, Kara Walker, and Melvin Edwards.
The U.S. tour further builds on the exhibition’s overarching theme of histórias—a Portuguese term that can encompass both fictional and non-fictional narratives of cultural, economic, personal, or political character. The term is plural, diverse, and inclusive, presenting viewpoints that have been marginalized or forgotten. The exhibition unfolds through six thematic sections that explore the varied histories of the diaspora.
Interpretive Materials
As an art historian who started on the Medievalist and High Antiquity track, I truly relish opportunities to explore connections across centuries. At the beginning of the exhibition, we paired a French 17th Century tapestry (pictured above) with a colossal contemporary Brazilian artwork. Listen to the audio guide titled “Two Histories”
Installation Images
Section 1: Maps and Margins
Section 2: Enslavement and Emancipations
Section 3: Everyday Lives
Section 4: Rites and Rhythms
Section 5: Resistances and Activisms
Section 6: Portraits
Press
“Rice’s SlaveVoyages project provides a wonderful amount of research that people can tap into, while this exhibition provides a different way of looking at history through the lens of an artist,” O’Hara said. “It gives you an opportunity to feel empathy in ways that you might not be able to if you're only looking at a document.”
— Rice University, ‘Bound Away’ conference bringing new research on slave voyages, Katharine Shilcutt, November 22, 2021
Image Courtesy of the artist and MASP São Paulo
“It pulls a thread that connects various regional panels sewn together: various nations across the Americas. “Afro-Atlantic Histories” certainly achieves a goal of presenting various ways African cultures were pulled from their native ground and sunk into a faraway place, where they served subsequent purposes — comfort, rebellion, celebration — as they were absorbed into other cultures.”
— Houston Chronicle “Afro-Atlantic Histories’ traces art across an ocean at Museum of Fine Arts, Houston”, Andrew Dansby, October 21, 2021.
Adriano Pedrosa, curator for São Paulo's MASP, takes a closer look at Jamaican artist Barrington Watson's piece titled "Conversation" at The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Elizabeth Conley, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer