Risks, Challenges, and Possibilities Building a Future in African Arts

Amanda M. Maples is the Françoise Billion Richardson Curator of African Art at the New Orleans Museum of Art. She has written essays, books, and articles on historical and contemporary African arts, museum policies, and collecting practices. [email protected]

Aaron Samuel Mulenga is an interdisciplinary artist and Visual Studies PhD candidate whose area of study includes contemporary art of Africa, monuments studies, and the roles that museums play in shaping cultural narratives. His interest in Zambian culture and heritage led to his latest work, which focuses on re-membering the significant contribution of the porters from Southern Africa, called Tenga Tenga, who carried World War I on their backs. [email protected]

Rachel Kabukala is a PhD candidate in the Department of Art History and African Studies Program at Indiana University. In 2020, she curated Radical Revisionists: Contemporary African Artists Confronting Past & Present at the Moody Center for the Arts at Rice University. In 2022, she presented the first solo exhibition of the Kinshasa-based artist collective Kongo Astronauts titled Congo Gravitational Waves //A Metadigital & Tantalean Tale at the University of North Texas CVAD Galleries. She is committed to collaborative curatorial practices and synergistic scholarship as means of achieving mutual liberation and positive transformation for our shared futures. [email protected]

Álvaro Luís Lima is an assistant professor of art history at the University of Florida and a member of the African Arts editorial consortium. [email protected]

Genevieve Hill-Thomas is a professor of art history at Ringling College of Art and Design. [email protected]