AFRICA FORECAST: Fashioning Contemporary Life

September 15—December 3, 2016
Spelman College Museum of Fine Art

AFRICA FORECAST: Fashioning Contemporary Life, an original exhibition, launched the Museum’s 20th anniversary. The exhibition positioned fashion through two overlapping perspectives: an ever-changing global marketplace and the unique ways that black women throughout the African Diaspora construct their lives. AFRICA FORECAST featured work by black women artists and designers who shape, imagine, and redefine the impact of lifestyle in highly imaginative ways.

For the groundbreaking artists and designers in AFRICA FORECAST, style serves as endless inspiration for new approaches to dressing, social relationships, and activism. They stretch the boundaries of fashion’s influence in art and design, reflecting its ability to communicate complex social and cultural perspectives. As a result, the exhibition encouraged visitors to explore fashion’s changing shape in art and in their daily lives. AFRICA FORECAST provided a dynamic snapshot of this global reflection on style through garments, photography, video, painting, and sculpture.

Amy Sherald. FREEING HERSELF WAS ONE THING, TAKING OWNERSHIP OF THAT FREED SELF WAS ANOTHER, 2015. Oil on canvas. Courtesy of the artist.

Amy Sherald. FACT WAS SHE KNEW MOIRE ABOUT THEM THEN SHE KNEW ABOUT HERSELF, HAVING NEVER HAD THE MAP TO DISCOVER WHAT SHE WAS LIKE. 2014. Oil on canvas. Courtesy of the artist.

Lina Iris Viktor. Constellation. 2016. Pure 24-karat gold, acrylic, gouache, print on matte. Courtesy of the artist.

Fabiola Jean-Louis. Amina. 2016. Archival pigment print. Courtesy of the artist and Alan Avery Company.

Ayana V. Jackson. Stella. 2016. Archival pigment print. Courtesy of the artist and Gallery MOMO.

Zohra Opoku. 2016. self/portraits. C-print. Courtesy of the artist.