Many of the contemporary artworks in the museum's galleries are made of organic materials and are subject to damage from exposure to light. Ultra violet (UV) light, which is invisible to the eye, can substantially fade or structurally weaken sensitive materials such as paper, watercolors, photographs and textiles. To combat damage to light-sensitive artworks, African Art exhibits them under "safe" (e.g., tungsten), not harmful (e.g., fluorescent) lights and uses filtering materials (e.g., UV-absorbing Plexiglas) to protect them.

Visible light--the part of the spectrum perceived by the human eye--is also damaging to artworks. The most effective way to protect these works and minimize deterioration is to reduce the amount of time and the intensity of illumination to which they are exposed. To this end, sensitive artworks are exhibited at low light levels for short lengths of time and works of art on paper and textiles are rotated--that is, removed from exhibit on a predetermined schedule.