The DAM’s arts of Africa gallery showcases highlights from the museum’s collection, which encompasses about 800 objects, largely from the 19th and 20th centuries, across media—including painting, printmaking, sculpture, textiles, and jewelry, as well as recent acquisitions of contemporary art.

The updated presentation, spanning 2,300 square feet on level 4 of the Hamilton Building, centers a collection that illustrates the diversity, relevance, and dynamism of creativity and culture across Africa. For the first time the gallery will present an expansive and inclusive view of the arts from the African continent with works from the sub-Sahara, Egypt, and North Africa. The presentation will be organized around three anchoring themes: the self, power and transformation, and manifestation.

Works presented include ancient and modern hair picks, ceremonial headwear, textiles, female fertility figurines, ancestor masks, spiritual text fragments, as well as recent acquisitions from contemporary artists such as Phumelele Tshabalala, Merikokeb Berhanu, and Selome Muleta.