‘Looking Both Ways: Art of the Contemporary African Diaspora’ considers the work of artists from North, South, East, and West Africa who live and work in Western countries, including Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

The title Looking Both Ways refers to the artists’ practice of looking at the psychic terrain between Africa and the West, a terrain of shifting physical contexts, aesthetic ambitions, and expressions. It examines the relationship between physical contexts, emotional geographies, ambition, and freedom of expression while focusing on the increasing globalization of the African Diaspora. Looking Both Ways is not a survey, but rather an intimate consideration of the work of twelve artists: Fernando Alvim, Ghada Amer, Oladélé Bamgboyé, Allan deSouza, Kendell Geers, Moshekwa Langa, Hassan Musa, N’Dilo Mutima, Wangechi Mutu, Ingrid Mwangi, Zineb Sedira, and Yinka Shonibare. 

New York, Museum for African Art; Gent, Snoeck, 2003