One Must Be Seated - Rita Mawuena Benissan Solo Exhibition

Name: One Must Be Seated - Rita Mawuena Benissan Solo Exhibition
Start: 2024-11-13T18:00:00+02:00
Location: Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa, S Arm road, Silo district, V&A Waterfront, 8001 Cape Town, South Africa

Schedule

Wed Nov 13 2024 at 06:00 pm

UTC+02:00

Location

Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa, S Arm road, Silo district, V&A Waterfront, 8001 Cape Town, South Africa | Cape Town, WC

Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa is thrilled to invite you to the public opening of 𝙊𝙣𝙚 𝙈𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝘽𝙚 𝙎𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙙, a solo exhibition by Ghanaian-American artist Rita Mawuena Benissan. Deeply rooted within her Ghanaian culture, Benissan’s practice has particular focus on the reimagining of the royal umbrella and stool, symbols of Akan chieftaincy.
𝙊𝙣𝙚 𝙈𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝘽𝙚 𝙎𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙙 explores the enstoolment of a prospective chief, akin to coronation; a call to take their rightful seat in the stool that has been chosen for them. The exhibition opens Wednesday, 13 November 2024 on Level 3, Silo Side of the museum, and runs until 5 October 2025.
“The exhibition layout simulates the enstoolment tradition with each successive gallery symbolising a stage in the process,” explains Beata America, the curator of One Must Be Seated, and Assistant Curator at Zeitz MOCAA. Prompted by the new film, One Must Be Seated (2024), from which the exhibition takes its title, you are invited to be nominated and confronted by the ancestors. “Have you not seen the seat that we made for you? You were made to be seated.” Walking through, one passes the palace at dusk, depicted in an intricately woven tapestry, We Process at Sunrise (2024); receives a powerful affirmation of growth and renewal in the green shades of We Give Power to You (2024), another umbrella work; and is ultimately led to the final golden throne. America adds: “It will embrace its chosen, sealing the bond between leader and legacy. When the time comes, will you be open to receive the call?”
Benissan was born in Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire in 1995 to Ghanaian parents. Her journey led her to the United States as a baby, where she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Apparel and Textile Design from Michigan State University in 2017, followed by a Master of Fine Arts in photography and an African Studies Program Certificate from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2021. Rita’s works have been acquired by private and institutional collections, including Foundation H, The Dean Collection, Fundacion Yannick Y Ben, Paola Pavirani Golinelli, Nicolas Berggruen, Amoako Boafo, and many others.
𝙊𝙣𝙚 𝙈𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝘽𝙚 𝙎𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙙 forms part of an ongoing series of in-depth, research-based solo exhibitions by Zeitz MOCAA that bring into focus and contextualise the practices of important artists from Africa and the Diaspora, and those whose work focuses on seminal topics in the African present.
𝘡𝘦𝘪𝘵𝘻 𝘔𝘖𝘊𝘈𝘈’𝘴 𝘦𝘹𝘩𝘪𝘣𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘎𝘶𝘤𝘤𝘪, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘔𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘯 𝘍𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘉𝘔𝘞 𝘚𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘩 𝘈𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢.

Where is it happening?

Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa, S Arm road, Silo district, V&A Waterfront, 8001 Cape Town, South Africa, Zeitz Mocaa Food, Re/173714 Silo Sq, Cape Town, 8001, South Africa,Cape Town, Western Cape

Event Location & Nearby Stays: