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NOW OPEN Heroes: Principles of African Greatness

National Museum of African Art - Smithsonian Institution

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Pioneering Women Photographers in Africa, 1930s-1970s

Marilyn Hammersley Houlberg
Marilyn Hammersley Houlberg seated with André Pierre in the artist’s home, Haiti,
March 2005, EEPA 2012-004-2770.
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. Learn more about the project at SI.com

Read more about these amazing photographers on the Eliot Elisofon Archives page.

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Sat 07

Kwanzaa 2019

December 7 @ 11:30 am - 4:30 pm

2019: Smithsonian Year of Music

Girl in a jacket

Here at the National Museum of African Art we will be celebrating our musical resources across history, art, culture and education.

You can find all of this year’s #SmithsonianMusic events and online offerings at music.si.edu

Listen here to the sounds of a continent rich with creativity, power, and enchantment. Radio Africa offers hours of tracks including field recordings from remote villages, voices of political protest, and songs from emerging Afro-pop artists and is a collaboration between Smithsonian Folkways and the National Museum of African Art.

Listen Now

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Mission Statement

To inspire conversations about the beauty, power, and diversity of African arts and cultures worldwide.

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