A decade after the Arts of Africa was established as its own department at the Brooklyn Museum, the institution is initiating the creation of a $13 million permanent space to house its extensive collection of over 4,500 objects and artworks.
The museum is converting underused storage spaces on its third floor into 6,400 square feet of exhibition area. This transformation will provide a continuous flow with the Egyptian art galleries, aiming to reconnect the art and historical heritage of North Africa with the rest of the continent, according to a March 24 announcement by the institution.
The renovation and development of these galleries are being spearheaded by Peterson Rich Office (PRO), a Brooklyn-based architecture firm known for its work on various commercial and institutional exhibition spaces. They are working in conjunction with the museum’s exhibition design team and the department’s Curator Ernestine White-Mifetu, Associate Curator Annissa Malvoisin, and Curatorial Assistant Yara Doumani.
Rendering of the Arts of Africa galleries (images courtesy Peterson Rich Office)
In a communication with Hyperallergic, White-Mifetu and Malvoisin shared their enthusiasm for the new galleries. White-Mifetu mentioned that the tall ceilings, along with careful attention to lighting, wall placement, and casework, will ensure a “beautifully showcased” collection. Malvoisin added that “each space was carefully planned through both a transdisciplinary and decolonial lens.”
As they prepare for the new construction, the curators reviewed the collection and selected several previously unseen pieces for conservation, anticipating their display in the galleries.
White-Mifetu and Malvoisin have curated an inaugural exhibition featuring over 300 works, organized through a framework highlighting the material and cultural exchanges that developed along the continent’s natural routes over millennia.
Instead of focusing on post-colonial divisions and national borders, White-Mifetu and Malvoisin plan to curate across regions, including areas like the Nile and Niger Rivers, and the Mediterranean, Loango, and Atlantic coasts, as well as the Sahara desert, among others.
The curators also collaborated with external scholars, the Brooklyn Museum’s education and visitor engagement departments, and community organizations to identify which collection items resonate with Black, African, and Afrodiasporic perspectives.
“Syncretized Yoruba Ifa is practiced in Haiti through Voodoo, Brazil through Candomblé, and in Cuba through Santería, so objects that are used in Ifa were spotlit as deeply significant across the Afrodiaspora,” White-Mifetu and Malvoisin explained to Hyperallergic, demonstrating how the collection itself naturally reflects diverse demographics.
In addition to the Meroitic ceramics of the Kingdom of Kush (now Sudan), Malvoisin is eager to present the “Bwanga Bwa Cibola,” a 19th-century wooden sculpture from the Lulua people, which she describes as a major artwork in the collection.
The exhibition will include items not previously displayed by the museum, such as a Tuareg traveling sack, which will serve as a focal point in one of the gallery sections.
White-Mifetu also highlighted a mask created for an Ordehlay cultural society’s masquerade in Freetown, Sierra Leone, as a standout piece, noting its resemblance to a scene from a sci-fi film.
The duo clarified to Hyperallergic that while the upcoming galleries are dedicated solely to the permanent collection, only a portion will be displayed at any given time through regular rotations.
The museum began its African art collection in the early 20th century and by 2000, its holdings spanned 2,500 years of history across the continent, including the acquisition of its first contemporary African artwork in 1991. The department was formalized in 2016 as the collection expanded, although the museum faced criticism in its early stages for appointing a White consulting curator in 2018.
Scheduled to open in fall 2027, the new galleries will enhance the ongoing integration between the Arts of Africa, the Arts of the Islamic World, and the Ancient Egyptian art collections.
“The Museum is already doing this work throughout the building, so this connection feels natural both contextually and realistically,” the curators noted.
While this development follows several significant expansions and renovations in the museum’s recent past, the establishment of a permanent space for the Arts of Africa collection comes after a challenging time for the Brooklyn Museum.
The 200-year-old institution disclosed a $10 million deficit last year, which led to the layoff of 47 employees and a reduction in programming. A City Council grant of $2.5 million helped the museum save some positions amid public pressure and protests. (Museum Director Anne Pasternak recently informed the New York Times that funds raised for the museum’s capital projects cannot be reallocated to cover operating expenses.)
