Africa Is a Country

The narrative of African women

Africa Is a Country Podcast
African Five-a-Side Podcast

The narrative of African women

By
Anni Lyngskaer

An exhibit attempts to reframe popular perceptions and the image of African women in the United States. 

Credit: Delphine Diallo.

The work of French-Senegalese artist, Delphine Diallo reflects the effects of her migration and travel between North America, Europe and Africa. About her work, she has said, “I treat my process as if it were an adventure liberating a new protagonist.”

Elsewhere, Diallo has said: “So many black women who have been abused, disrespected, betrayed understand the power of healing because they had no other choice to carry on with life. For centuries, the Patriarchal society transformed the black woman body as an object. i want to bring a great new vision of black female archetypes: the explorer, the queen, the goddess, the innocent, the sage, the mother, the caregiver, the ruler, the lover, the spiritual warrior, the magician, the everywoman, so many others.”

That quest of liberation is central to the Sauti Yetu Center for African Women, organizers of the exhibit, “Shift: Images and Narratives of African Women in Movement,” with Brooklyn College Women’s Studies Program present.  Diallo is among the women photographers exhibited in the exhibit.  Shift attempts to reframe the popular perception and image of African women in the United States.

Curator Bianca Mona, in an interview, described the mixed media exhibit as showcasing a potpourri of internationally acclaimed artists and New York City-based representatives of the diversity of the African continent who hail from Ethiopia, Nigeria, Ghana, and Egypt, among others.

The images and artwork displayed in this exhibit offer a window into the experiences of African immigrant women as they shift, challenge and negotiate the complexities of their lives.

In the video, below, AIAC’s Anni Lyngskaer talk with Mona about the exhibition.

Further Reading

Kenya’s vibe shift

From aesthetic cool to political confusion, a new generation in Kenya is navigating broken promises, borrowed styles, and the blurred lines between irony and ideology.

Africa and the AI race

At summits and in speeches, African leaders promise to harness AI for development. But without investment in power, connectivity, and people, the continent risks replaying old failures in new code.

After the uprising

Years into Cameroon’s Anglophone conflict, the rebellion faces internal fractures, waning support, and military pressure—raising the question of what future, if any, lies ahead for Ambazonian aspirations.

In search of Saadia

Who was Saadia, and why has she been forgotten? A search for one woman’s story opens up bigger questions about race, migration, belonging, and the gaps history leaves behind.

Binti, revisited

More than two decades after its release, Lady Jaydee’s debut album still resonates—offering a window into Tanzanian pop, gender politics, and the sound of a generation coming into its own.

The bones beneath our feet

A powerful new documentary follows Evelyn Wanjugu Kimathi’s personal and political journey to recover her father’s remains—and to reckon with Kenya’s unfinished struggle for land, justice, and historical memory.

What comes after liberation?

In this wide-ranging conversation, the freedom fighter and former Constitutional Court justice Albie Sachs reflects on law, liberation, and the unfinished work of building a just South Africa.

The cost of care

In Africa’s migration economy, women’s labor fuels households abroad while their own needs are sidelined at home. What does freedom look like when care itself becomes a form of exile?

The memory keepers

A new documentary follows two women’s mission to decolonize Nairobi’s libraries, revealing how good intentions collide with bureaucracy, donor politics, and the ghosts of colonialism.

Making films against amnesia

The director of the Oscar-nominated film ‘Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat’ reflects on imperial violence, corporate warfare, and how cinema can disrupt the official record—and help us remember differently.