The National Museum of African Art will issue the catalog of its award-winning, multi-platform project “Heroes: Principles of African Greatness” on Sept. 3. The “Heroes” project, led by curator Kevin D. Dumouchelle, has grown from a 2019–2022 in-person exhibition of more than 50 artworks from the museum’s collection to a multimedia digital experience with videos, an interactive tour, a curated playlist, and a book published by Hirmer Publishers and jointly distributed by the University of Chicago Press. The Dumouchelle-authored book is pre-ordered and available in bookshops worldwide.
“Heroes allows readers to imagine a new future inspired by Africa’s arts and history’s visions and lives, triumphs and tragedies,” Dumouchelle added. Heroes urge people who interact with it to explore how its artworks communicate tales tied to African history while creating links to their own lives and experiences, building from the creative brilliance of the African artists represented in the project.”
The project illustrates heroic achievement—from strength and bravery through dignity, resistance, pride, and collaborative action—by an artist. Large-scale sculptures by Senegal’s Ousmane Sow, 12th-century Mali ceramic figures, small copper-alloy figures, and books and images from the museum’s library and archive collections are on display. The featured principal introduces African history figures from Kwame Nkrumah to Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, a Nigerian women’s rights and anti-colonial activist, or Beverly Palesa Ditsie and Simon Nkoli, South African LGBTQ+ rights activists. Each person is presented with significant information from their life and statements in their own words. At the same time, movies and a fully integrated playlist on the project’s digital channels enhance sympathetic interaction.
Dumouchelle stated that Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe, who remarked, ‘If you do not like someone’s tale, create your own,’ is a hero in this effort. Living in a time when many Western narratives about Africa are still difficult to like, I was inspired to share the stories revealed by our artists with visitors so they could experience the continent’s artistic genius and rich, important history in terms that are relatable to them. I hope the book will inspire future artists, storytellers, and heroes by meeting readers at their level of interest—whether through big abstract ideas, intimate stories of personal achievement, close examinations of artistic imagination and excellence, or extra-sensory audio and digital interaction.
The book is open-ended in a vibrant, colorful, and approachable graphic-novel format, encouraging “choose your adventure.” Heroes are the museum’s first collection-focused publication to apply the National Museum of African Art’s field-leading exhibition strategy of allowing linkages between African artists’ work across time, mediums, and geographies. The book has a full exhibition website; seven curated Google Arts & Culture interactive exhibitions (Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7), and a YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Music playlist of its connected songs.
Over 100 copies of the catalog will be presented to African colleges and art institutes as part of the museum’s longtime partnership with them.
“The museum could not be prouder that we will have the opportunity to share this critically acclaimed platform for connecting readers to not only key figures in Africa’s arts and history but also to new possibilities within themselves with educators and students across the continent,” said John Lapiana, interim director of the National Museum of African Art. It is another example of this museum’s dedication to showcasing African creative talent and voices and its longtime collaborations throughout the continent.
