African Artists’ Foundation Announces The Fourth Edition Of ‘dig Where You Stand’ In Benin | Exploring The Regenerative Power Of Art

Building on successful collaborations with Benin through LagosPhoto Festival 2023 and the Benin Pavilion at La Biennale di Venezia 2024, the African Artists’ Foundation (AAF) deepens artistic exchange in the country, reflecting on contemporary identities in Africa And Its Diaspora. 

On View: September 27 – December 1, 2024

Following the successful third iteration of traveling exhibition ‘Dig Where You Stand: From Coast to Coast’ in Portugal, the African Artists’ Foundation (AAF), a non-profit organization and art space based in Lagos, Nigeria, announces its upcoming edition in Benin. Taking place at the Fondation Zinsou Musée, Ouidah, and Les Ateliers Coffi, Cotonou, from September 27 – December 1, 2024, the programming will feature roundtables, workshops and exhibitions focusing on how art can aid in the understanding the collective self. Curated by photographer Delali Ayivi with curatorial advisory from AAF founder Azu Nwagbogu, the exhibitions will showcase over 50 artworks including paintings, photographic works, and installations, by 22 returning and new participating artists.

Creativity and imagination, which are essential for a society to envision its future and make progress, have been neglected or suppressed in West Africa and its diaspora. As a result, people in these regions have struggled to use their own history and culture to shape their evolution. Committed to showcasing art as a means to forge new, restorative narratives, this edition of ‘Dig Where You Stand’ will showcase artists whose practices reflect a modern, self-directed vision of Africa's culture, reconnecting with their roots through their own experiences and histories. Taking place in various cultural spaces in Ouidah and Cotonou, the exhibition will showcase artworks by returning artists from previous editions including Zanele Muholi, Bright Ackwerh, and Joana Choumali, as well as new participating artists, such as Beninese artist Charbel Coffi, American multimedia artist Bayete Ross Smith and Togolese artist Roméo Mivekannin.

Emphasizing the importance of community-centered spaces, the programming will include workshops and roundtables with local and international thinkers, transcending societal boundaries, class divisions, and geographical borders. Examining relations towards nature, religion, (geo-)politics, socio-economics, and time, and how these are linked to the creation of culture and identity, discourse will be centered in exploring homegrown identities from the African continent.

‘Dig Where You Stand’ was conceived as more than just an exhibition. It was the beginning of a cultural experiment and movement to explore the role of art in shifting the decolonial paradigm away from Western museums towards a location-specific, solution-oriented approach. Emphasizing on travel, migration and (dis)placement, artists and local communities examine the economies of the colonial systems that have historically marginalized vulnerable communities and find new methodologies in the art world, creating a toolkit for commencing regenerative economic processes. ‘Dig Where You Stand’ will continue its journey to other locations across Africa, from Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, to Dakar, Senegal, tentatively in 2025.