The Smithsonian National Museum of African Art joins in mourning the loss of luminary curator, scholar and arts activist, Bisi Silva, who passed away on February 12 in Lagos, Nigeria.

Silva had been a leader for the promotion of Africa’s contemporary arts and artists world-wide for twenty-five years and will long be remembered for her efforts to promote vibrant art spaces on the African continent. In 2007, Silva opened CCA, Lagos, an experimental exhibition space that has opened such important exhibitions as ‘Democrazy’ (2007–08); Like a Virgin’ with Lucy Azubuike and Zanele Muholi (2012), ‘Playing with Chance: El Anatsui’ (2014)); and ‘Kelani Abass If I can save time’ (2016–17). Silva also curated the 2006 Dak’Art Biennale of Contemporary African art in Dakar, Senegal and the 10th Rencontres Biennale of Contemporary Photography in Bamako, Mali in 2015.

She was a gifted mentor and pioneered the ASIKO curatorial workshops, bringing together international casts of artists, curators and academics to inspire new generations of men and women to bring about cultural change. Silva was also a passionate advocate for the preservation of archives on the African continent and a dedicated scholar. Her publications include a groundbreaking monograph on the Nigerian photographer, J.D Ojeikere. She will be missed.

Longtime supporter of the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art and leading figure in the field of African Art History, Dr. Christopher Roy, professor at the University of Iowa, passed away Sunday morning, February 10th. Over the course of his 50 year career, Roy encouraged new generations of scholars and tirelessly promoted the arts and cultures of the African continent. A leading authority on the arts of Burkina Faso, he will be remembered for his early embrace of digital technologies and efforts to share his own love of Africa’s arts and inspire new enthusiasts as broadly as possible. Our thoughts go out to his family and extended community of friends.

The Train of Salt and Sugar
February 15, 2019
6:30 – 8:30 p.m.

Historically, metals such as iron drastically affected the socio-economic advancement and migrations of civilizations worldwide. The Train of Salt and Sugar mixes fact and fiction from the lives of many individuals impacted by years of devastating war that occurred from the early ’60s through the early ’90s as Mozambique fought for independence from Portugal and then internally with a civil war.

Follow a train and its passengers—civilians and soldiers alike—on a harrowing journey as they search for a better life represented by an iron railway. For some, it’s financial breakthrough and others power. Along the way, a fragile love is born amid the death; a woman plans to trade her supply of salt (a rare commodity) for sugar (an even rarer commodity) in Malawi, enabling her to feed her children; and we meet a despicable officer, insightful railway men, and an unseen enemy whose numerous and varied attacks leave the passengers terrified, exhausted and dying of thirst.

Presented in conjunction with the exhibition Striking Iron: The Art of African Blacksmiths and in partnership with World Artists Experiences. Join the ensuing discussion with special guest Ambassador Carlos Dos Santos of the Republic of Mozambique.

Free and open to the public.

We are excited to announce a major project the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives, National Museum of African Art, is starting: In support of the Smithsonian American Women’s History Initiative, we will be digitizing and describing 14 collections created by women photographers in Africa! All of the women photographers were trailblazers in their respective fields and professions – art, anthropology, architecture, art history, geography, photojournalism, travel – and used photography as a tool for documentation, ethnographic field research, or ‘salvage photography’ to produce fleeting glimpses of what were perceived as rapidly ‘vanishing’ cultures and ways of life. These women exercised different cultural and social sensitivities when it came to photographing indigenous peoples in local and domestic settings.

Each month we will feature a different woman from the project.