Yet in the NMAfA show much of the work is quietly upbeat, from a steady-eyed self-portrait by the great South African artist and visual activist, Zanele Muholi; to a luminous photograph of an upwardly gazing male couple in a luminous photo by Rotimi Fani-Kayode (1955-1989); to an ethereal installation by Paul Emmanuel, an artist born in Zambia and now living between Johannesburg and Washington.

Combining a draped and translucent military parachute with two drawings, one of a pair of dark-skinned male hands, the other of light-skinned male feet, it might be read as a vision of safe landing in the supportive company of brotherhood across racial and affectional lines.

Dumouchelle agreed: “Koyo’s vision for the exhibition is beautifully thoughtful,” he said. “This idea of bringing voices to the table that have not previously had an opportunity, doing curatorial work that challenges our preconceived notions of boundaries between disciplines and sub-disciplines and sub-regions — that spirit, I hope, you will see animating the forum.”

A lot of museum shows make self-conscious gestures toward inclusion — high plus low, global plus local, insider plus outsider — but this one takes big-picture inclusivity, with its contradictions and confusions, as a primary subject.

“There’s an extent to which bringing an object into a museum is validating it, and saying: ‘This has merit. This is something that should be thought about and considered, in its own time and decades and possibly centuries afterward,’” he said. “...It’s a deliberative process of trying to think about the artists that will stand up over time and the stories that are relevant today but will also be important and relevant to talk about in the generations to follow.”

Anatsui’s installation process is even more flexible...curators may ruffle the surfaces of the wall hangings as they please, smoothing old wrinkles or developing new ones. You may fall in love with a piece in one show and not even recognize it on its next outing.