African LGBTQ Artists at the Smithsonian African Art Museum

Some of the most challenging places to be LGBTQ+ are in Africa -- but that doesn't stop gorgeous queer expression there. The National Museum of African Art offers a beautiful collection of 60 works by LGBTQ+ African artists. Join us, and find a new favorite queer artist from Africa!

MEET AT: Outside the main entrance to the National Museum of African Art. It is inside the gardens behind the big red stone Smithsonian Castle and looks like the picture above. Look for Molly with the rainbow LAL sign.
COST: FREE!
NEAREST METRO: Smithsonian

Exhibition description:
Artists’ voices are central to this exhibition, which is based on years of close collaboration and dialogue with African visual art practitioners who claim belonging in the LGBTQ+ community, however they define those terms. They are united by a simple, shared declaration: We are here and always have been and will be.

The exhibition is part of a larger research initiative, the Here Project, that seeks to document these voices. The artists in the Project practice across the entirety of the African continent and its global diaspora, using their work to speak their truths. Inviting us into their worlds, they share complex stories of openly claiming their identities, their histories, and their place. While their experiences are unique to them, they address issues that unite us all: the importance of family, of spirit, of standing up for oneself and others, of imagining the future, of making intimate connections, of finding belonging, of embracing potential, and above all, of experiencing joy.
Here is based on years of close collaboration and dialogue with these artists and their communities. Through their art, they invite us into their worlds, and share complex stories of openly claiming their identities, their histories, and their place. Here is in the largest exhibition on this subject to date, with nearly 60 artworks, demonstrating how they are a part of a larger story of African art history.