Heaven

Christine Dixie
b. 1966, South Africa
The Binding (detail, one of six etchings)
2009
Etching on paper
Framed, each: 217.5 x 145.3 x 7.1 cm
(85 5/8 x 57 1/4 x 2 3/4 in.)
National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, purchased with funds provided by the Annie Laurie Aitken Endowment, 2011-6-5
Photograph by Franko Khoury
©2009-10 Christine Dixie
View the entire series of six

Abdoulaye Konaté
b. 1953, Mali
Dance of Kayes
From La Danse series
2008
Textile
Each: approx. 246.4 x 170.2 cm (97 x 67 in.)
Collection of Saro León
Photograph by Axel Schneider
©Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt

Ghada Amer
b. 1963, Egypt
The Blue Bra Girls
2012
Cast and polished stainless steel
182.9 x 157.5 x 137.1 cm (72 x 62 x 54 in.)
Collection of the artist, courtesy Kukje Gallery, Seoul
Photograph by Axel Schneider
©Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt

Pélagie Gbaguidi
b. 1965, Senegal
Dansleventreduserpentdanhomê (detail)
2013
Acrylic on canvas, marouflage
208.3 x 1308.1 x 6.35 cm (82 x 515 x 2 1/2 in.)
Collection of the artist
Photograph courtesy the artist

Zineb Sedira
b. 1963, France
Guiding Light
2013
Single-screen projection HD video with sound (6 min. 15 sec.), model boat, sand
Installation: dimensions variable
Collection of the artist, courtesy Galerie Kamel Mennour, Paris
Photograph by Axel Schneider
©Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt

Franck Abd-Bakar Fanny
b. 1970, Côte d’Ivoire
From Another Day Without You series
2013
Color prints, Diasec
Each: 112 x 200 cm (44 1/8 x 78 3/4 in.)
Collection of the artist
Photograph courtesy the artist
View the entire series of five

What does paradise mean to you? A perfect vacation location? A divine light? For the artists on view in this section, paradise—or heaven—can be the power of women standing up for themselves, the sacred ground upon which individuals and communities come together, the hope one feels moving to a new land, and thinking beyond race. Heaven is love, motherhood, and dance; it can also be found in a surreal depiction of the procession encountered by Dante and Matilda at the summit of Mount Purgatory as they journeyed to Paradise in Dante’s literary epic. Visions of paradise are complex, contradictory, and sometimes, quite beautiful.