When We See Us: A Century of Black Figuration in Painting

A Sunday Times Art Book of the Year: a major study of Black figurative art from Africa and the African diaspora, covering 100 years from the early 20th century to now. Published to accompany a major exhibition at Zeitz MOCAA, Cape Town, this book presents a comprehensive exploration of Black self representation through portraiture and figuration, celebrating Black subjectivity and Black consciousness from Pan-African and Pan-Diasporic perspectives. With a primary focus on representational painting, When We See Us celebrates how artists from Africa and the African diaspora have imagined, positioned, memorialized and asserted African and African diasporic experiences during a 100-year period spanning from the early 20th century to the present. The publication demonstrates how generations of artists throughout the 20th century and at the beginning of the 21st have critically engaged with multiple notions of Blackness and Africanity. Figurative painting by Black artists has risen to a new prominence in the field of contemporary art over the last decade. This timely and revelatory publication and exhibition will highlight the many ways in which artists have contributed to the critical discourse on topics such as Pan-Africanism, the Civil Rights Movement, African Liberation and Independence movements, the Anti-Apartheid and Black Consciousness mobilisations, Decoloniality and Black Lives Matter.

About the Author :
Koyo Kouoh (1967-2025) was described by the New York Times as one of Africa's pre-eminent art curators and managers. She was Executive Director and Chief Curator of the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Zeitz MOCAA), Cape Town, at the time of her death in 2025. She received the Swiss Grand Award for Art / Prix Meret Oppenheim in recognition of her contribution to the understanding of contemporary art in 2020.

Review :
'The biggest story in art in the past couple of years has been the rise and rise of black figurative painting – especially by women. New voices, with new subject matter and a new determination to have their say, have stormed the patriarchal citadels of western art. The results are exciting and cheering. This is a good introductory selection' - Sunday Times, Art Books of the Year 'This book – aside from being a feast for the eyes – is an abundant art-historical resource, and will be a springboard for discussions around Black figuration for decades to come' - The World of Interiors