Contemporary African Art

at Harvard Business School

Celebrating the vibrant African contemporary art scene, this online exhibition features works from the Schwartz Art Collection and the C. Ludens Ringnes Sculpture Collection. Harvard Business School has recently acquired many of them. These artworks—by Ethiopian, Ghanaian, Namibian, Nigerian, and South African artists represented in the collections at HBS—address an array of timely topics. They raise issues of ancestry and identity; archives and history; memory and trauma; legacies of colonialism and apartheid; globalization and trade; and climate and natural resources.

The works in this exhibition offer another view of the continent, one that also counters clichés. As Ethiopian artist Aïda Muluneh stated in a 2017 Guardian article, "When people think about Africa right now, they often only think about animals, war, and famine. I'm trying to distort that impression to provoke questions in a different sense." Simultaneously speaking to local politics and histories as well as universal themes, the eight works in this online exhibition—by artists Philip Kwame Apagya, William Kentridge, Vivienne Koorland, Tuli Mekondjo, Zanele Muholi, Muluneh, and Yinka Shonibare CBE RA—can encourage questions, foster conversations, and create connections.

Exhibition curated by Melissa Renn, Collections Manager, HBS Art Program & Collections.

  • A smiling boy poses before a painted backdrop of a stocked fridge, electronics, and luxury furnishings.

    PHILIP KWAME APAGYA
    (Ghanaian, born 1958)
    Francis, 1996/2003
    Chromogenic print
    Schwartz Art Collection, Harvard Business School, 2004.4
    © 2021 Philip Kwame Apagya

  • Black linocut of a tree printed over Encyclopedia Britannica pages with visible words like “UNDO” and “UNREMEMBER.”

    William Kentridge
    (South African, born 1955)
    Universal Archive (Big Tree), 2012
    Linocut printed on 15 nonarchival sheets of Encyclopedia Britannica mounted on white wove paper
    32 5/16 Ă— 35 7/16 in.
    Schwartz Art Collection, Harvard Business School, 2023.5
    © William Kentridge. Courtesy of David Krut Projects

  • Wooden wine crate transformed into a small upright piano with black keys, lid propped open, and label on top.

    Vivienne Koorland
    (South African, born 1957)
    Mute Piano, No. 2 (Dedicated to My Grandfather, Rafael), 2013
    Wood, staples, screws, oil, pigment, and glue
    18 x 21 x 15 in.
    Schwartz Art Collection, Harvard Business School, 2015.10

  • Layered canvas with handwritten phrases in white paint, listing sentimental terms like “my comfort bag” and “my chandelier.”

    Vivienne Koorland
    (South African, born 1957)
    Dark Poem Painting (What I Call You When I Think About You and You Are Not There), 2005
    Oil on stitched canvas
    48 x 44 in.
    Schwartz Art Collection, Harvard Business School, 2006.10

  • Mixed-media artwork with ghostly figures, red embroidered outlines, and glowing yellow ovals on rust-toned canvas.

    Tuli Mekondjo
    (Namibian, born 1982)
    Otwa umbata oudjuu wetu, momalutu, no momitima detu / Within our bodies and our hearts, we carry our burdens, 2023
    Image transfer, mahangu (pearl millet), resin, spray paint, cotton embroidery thread, bamboo crochet yarn, and rusted cotton fabric on canvas
    61 3/4 Ă— 70 1/4 in.
    Schwartz Art Collection, Harvard Business School, 2023.7

  • Black-and-white portrait of an individual with coiled hair and intense gaze, draped in sculptural white foam.

    Zanele Muholi
    (South African, born 1972)
    Bangezile, Adams Mission, 2021
    Gelatin silver print, 21 5/8 Ă— 16 1/8 in.
    Schwartz Art Collection, Harvard Business School, 2023.3
    Courtesy of the artist and Yancey Richardson Gallery © Zanele Muholi

  • Three painted figures in vivid blue, yellow, and red garments pose against a textured wall with a closed door.

    AĂŻda Muluneh
    (Ethiopian, born 1974)
    Beside the Door (Water Life Series), 2018
    Archival digital photograph
    31 1/2 Ă— 31 1/2 in.
    Schwartz Art Collection, Harvard Business School, 2023.6
    © Aida Muluneh. Image courtesy of the artist and David Krut Projects

  • Tall, swirling sculpture painted in bold, colorful African textile patterns, set in a grassy plaza near a modern building.

    Yinka Shonibare, CBE RA
    (British–Nigerian, born 1962)
    Wind Sculpture (SG) V, 2019
    Stainless-steel armature with hand-painted, glass-reinforced polyester cast
    275 1/2 Ă— 100 Ă— 78 5/8 in.
    C. Ludens Ringnes Sculpture Collection, Harvard Business School, 2021.1
    © Yinka Shonibare CBE RA. All Rights Reserved, DACS/ARS, NY 2023

These collections are available for use in the de Gaspé Beaubien Reading Room.

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