Exhibition Walk-through: Belongings

Join us for a guided walk-through of , an exhibition that explores the layered lives of African objects as they journey from their places of origin to the Fowler Museum. Rather than focusing solely on original use or function, this exhibition reveals the many transitions, hands, and histories these works have passed through from early ownership in Africa to colonial collectors, European markets, and eventually to Los Angeles. Together, we’ll consider how objects carry multiple meanings across time and space, and how museums can invite new voices and perspectives into the stories they tell.
Erica P. Jones is the senior curator of African arts and manager of curatorial affairs at the Fowler Museum at UCLA. Her curatorial work has engaged such themes as the legacy of colonialism in Africa, historical royal arts, and resonances between Africa and its diasporas. Exhibitions she has curated or co-curated include: The House Was Too Small: Yoruba Sacred Arts from Africa and Beyond (2023); Inheritance: Recent Video Art from Africa (2019); On Display in the Walled City: The Nigerian Pavilion at the British Empire Exhibition 1924–1925 (2019); and Meleko Mokgosi: Bread, Butter, and Power (2018).
Jones is on the board of African Arts journal; serves as a co-chair of the steering committee for the Collaboration, Collections, and Restitution Best Practices Working Group; and in 2024, led the Fowler Museum’s repatriation of seven looted objects to the Asante Kingdom in Ghana. Her publishing has been concentrated on colonial-era collecting, provenance, and the arts and museums of the Cameroon Grassfields. Jones holds a Ph.D. and an M.A. in art history from UCLA and a B.A. in art history and anthropology from the University of Pennsylvania.

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