New York Times Feature: 'Here: Pride and Belonging in African Art'

Story by Holland Cotter

Untethered/Retethered by Paul Emmanuel, consisting of a parachute, harness, video and original drawings hand-incised on cotton. Here: Pride and Belonging in African Art, National Museum of African Art. Photo by Brad Simpson

As part of a survey of Smithsonian Institution exhibitions in summer 2026, New York Times chief art critic and senior writer assessed the Here: Pride and Belonging in African Art exhibition. 

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.