Art from a Kaleidoscope of Perspectives

The self-portraitures of South African artist Zanele Muholi look starkly different at face value to those of Genevieve Gaignard’s. Muholi has darkened her skin and lightened her lips in her photograph “Faniswa.” Gaignard appears as two different white characters in her image, “The Rise and Fall (Take Em Down),” sitting at the base of a monument where the statue has been removed.

The two images, however, couldn’t be more connected, said Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM) curator María Elena Ortiz. The images are part of an exhibition of 39 works by 37 artists in “Allied With Power: African and African Diaspora Art from the Jorge M. Pérez Collection,” now showing at PAMM through July 1, 2021.

Muholi and Gaignard turn the cameras on themselves, both exploring the way whiteness and Blackness is perceived. Muholi exaggerates her skin tone to emphasize her Blackness. Gaignard, whose father is African American and whose mother is white, presents white-passing caricatures in portraits of the American stereotype.

“Both of the works address a history of racism, colonialism and discrimination in their respective countries,” Ortiz explained. “Every artist in this exhibit is from a different nation, a different culture. There are differences, yes, but they do share that history.”

Ortiz noted that by breaking down borders, not only geographically, but with respect to culture and color, the artists in the exhibition ally with power. They represent a kaleidoscope of voices that declare their authority.

“These artists come from different backgrounds and different experience, but there is a common history that they share. That is what connects all of us,” according to Ortiz, who said her own roots as a Black Puerto Rican “connects [the work] at a personal level.”

Ortiz worked closely with Jorge Pérez’s private curatorial team to select the works in the exhibition from his collection of African and African Diaspora art. She admitted that in the early stages of planning, she “gravitated toward the works I liked the most.”

She added that she was inspired by curators in the past who had championed the idea of Black artists as a collective to provide a stronger, more visible alignment.

To understand the African diaspora as opposed to African art in general, the diaspora are communities of people of African descent who became dispersed through the world as a result of historic movements, much of it from them being forced into migration due to slavery.

Ortiz said it is worth noting that there are African American artists who have made strides in the recognition of Black art and artists in the exhibition, however, there are still African, Afro Latinos and Afro Caribbean artists that remain on the fringes.

Selecting the works for “Allied With Power” was a process, she said, as Pérez still continues to acquire art pieces for this part of his collection.

“When I started working on this show, I think that there were about 200 works, but as the months kept passing by that number kept growing and growing. A couple of months later, there were 300 works,” Ortiz said with glee.

A voracious collector of Latin American and Caribbean artwork, Pérez has been focused for the past 7 years on the collection of African art. He recently pledged $2.5 million worth of his African art collection to PAMM.

“He is 500% committed to this work, to this topic and to these artists, and he is still vigorously collecting,” said Ortiz. “He gifted PAMM with this incredible contemporary Cuban Collection and the museum has perhaps the best Cuban contemporary art collection in the country, and we are certainly going to have that with [African art] as well.”

The collector’s first trip to Africa in 2013, he said, introduced him to the art and piqued his interest. Pérez doesn’t hesitate when he says that the “curiosity has grown into an obsession.”

Born in Argentina to Cuban-exiled parents, Pérez said he found many similarities in the work of the African artists he had been collecting and those by Latin American and Caribbean artists.

“I’ve always seen art as a way to better understand my culture and roots. And while I didn’t always experience a direct connection to African and African diaspora art, that all changed once I traveled to the continent and saw the incredible talent for myself,” he said. “Among these parallels were questions of political and social oppression, colonialism and identity, all of which were deeply embedded in many of my favorite pieces from Cuba and numerous other Latin regions.”

He has traveled to Africa numerous times since his first visit in 2013 to, as he says, better understand trends and identify young up-and-comers and more. The curator and collector agree that Miami is, in fact, the perfect place to have an important representation of African and African diaspora works.

“Miami, in particular, stands to benefit greatly from this recent emphasis on art from African and African diaspora artists. Many of these works serve as a window into a seemingly foreign world, one not often shown in film and television, while also highlighting the undeniable similarities between African, Latin American and Caribbean cultures, as well as the outlooks of their people,” Pérez said.

Ortiz believes the collection represents Miami’s people.

“The Black experience in Miami is diverse. There are African Americans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, Haitians, Nigerians, Bahamians, so there is a lot of diversity within our fabric,” she said. “This art and this exhibit not only accepts it, but celebrates it.”

“Allied With Power” as an exhibition that will be seen during Black History Month is meant to highlight artists who works not only show the complexities of our contemporary moment, but embody the possibilities, she added.

“It also helps Americans grapple with their own history. Blackness in the United States is full of regionalism,” she pointed out. From a personal perspective she said, having lived in different parts of the U.S., “The Black experience in Texas in different than in Miami. The Black experience in New York is different from another part of the country. And there is more to be told in that.”

Pérez said that through what he describes as an “unexpected kinship” to the works, that his hope is that those who see the works gain a new appreciation for connections they may not have realized existed between the people of Africa and the Americas.

Inclusion is an important element that Ortiz has made sure is a contemplative aspect of the exhibit. She points to white African artists in the exhibit whose work speaks to apartheid, including photographer Guy Tillim and artist Sue Williamson, for instance.

“I’m really interested in how when you see someone who hates another being because of their skin color, that is in itself an act of hate, so the hate is not only corrupting the people on the receiving end, but you’re also corrupting the people that are being taught to hate,” she said.

This, she continued, is an example of her desire as the curator of “Allied With Power” for exhibitiongoers “to create their own perspective by giving them information that they might not receive elsewhere.”

From the collector’s perspective, Pérez said there are outlooks in the works that are immediately evident – the fear of political oppression is one that he mentioned as an example, but he also called attention to their nuances.

“Other touches,” he said, “like the emphasis on family or similarities in architecture, while more subtle, are equally effective in reminding us that we are all one people with similar experiences and dreams.”