Emancipated Images

Abstract

The essay critically examines the exhibition When We See Us – A Century of Black Figuration in Painting, presented at BOZAR in Brussels in 2025, within the context of recent tendencies in the contemporary art scene to focus on marginal positions and decolonial practices, themselves shaped by broader social movements. Through an analysis of the curatorial approach of Koyo Kouoh, one of the most important advocates of contemporary African art, and particularly by considering the issue of contextualization by means of exhibition texts, the essay explores to what extent the exhibition succeeds in consistently representing the diverse perspectives of the participating artists. It raises the question of the position of the visitor and emphasizes the importance of curating an exhibition that reflects Black identity in a way that all authorial positions, including curatorial, are held by those that identify as Black. A brief iconographic overview of the exhibited works is provided, with special attention devoted to In the Clinic (1979) by South African painter George Pemba, and Black Model, after Félix Vallotton (2022) by Beninese-French artist Roméo Mivekannin. The analysis of these works, particularly through the lenses of class and gender, illustrates differences from the representational patterns of the Western artistic canon, as well as the emancipatory potential of painting. The essay concludes that, despite certain debatable aspects, the exhibition fulfilled its purpose of empowering Black subjects and intervening in the institution of contemporary art by foregrounding a wide spectrum of artistic practices connected to Africa and the African diaspora.