Installation view of “Sarah Maldoror: Tricontinental Cinema” at the Palais de Tokyo, where it was on view from Nov. 26 to March 13, 2022. Credit: Courtesy of Aurelien Mole
Widely hailed as the “Mother of African Cinema,” Sarah Maldoror inspired countless artists throughout her lifetime. Even after her death in 2020, she continues to inspire many more.
This Saturday, a new exhibit surrounding Maldoror — titled “Sarah Maldoror: Tricontinental Cinema” — will open at the Wexner Center for the Arts. The free exhibition explores every facet of Maldoror’s work and life through film screenings, concert events and an art gallery. Daniel Marcus, the center’s associate curator of exhibitions, said it aims to showcase how monumental of a storyteller Maldoror really was.
“The story of her life is really the story of connections,” Marcus said. “The exhibition really honors that aspect of her life.”
In an effort to illustrate the wide breadth of Maldoror’s legacy, Marcus said the exhibit also explores some of the filmmaker’s social bonds with other artists.
Marcus said a sizable collection of paintings by Ana Mercedes Hoyos, a Colombian painter and sculptor whose work was documented by Maldoror in the late 2000s, will be on view. Another featured artist who had a connection with Maldoror is Mathieu Kleyebe Abonnenc, a visual artist who once “interviewed her at length,” Marcus said.
“The curators were very eager to engage Mathieu because he was this direct link,” Marcus said. “Some of the connections that we draw in the show are connections that the curatorial team is putting together kind of as an homage by putting her in dialogue with artists who didn’t know her.”
Some of these selected artists were included in the exhibit due to their common creative interests with Maldoror, Marcus said. He said Soñ Gweha is one distinct example of this.
“We’ve worked with a young artist named Soñ Gweha, who made a beautiful sculptural installation,” Marcus said. “It’s also a sound installation that is focused on an immigrant community in present-day Paris and linking that community with a kind of generational anti-colonial struggle in Cameroon.”
Installation view of “Sarah Maldoror: Tricontinental Cinema” at the Palais de Tokyo, where it was on view from Nov. 26 to March 13, 2022. Credit: Courtesy of Palais de Tokyo
This ties in with Maldoror’s work in the 1980s, which primarily focused on the lives and struggles of African immigrants in France, Marcus said.
Melissa Starker, the center’s creative content and public relations manager, said Maldoror’s passion and skill set were not limited to cinema.
“Activism was at the heart of so much of what she did,” Starker said. “She was actively involved in activist movements. She worked alongside them, she created works that shared those stories and those issues, and there are a lot of people in different concentrations that she worked with.”
Starker said this passion for activism is illustrated in Maldoror’s 1972 film “Sambizanga.”
“The film is set in the early 60s and it is about the wife of a jailed activist who, with a toddler child in tow, does everything that she can to free her jailed husband,” Starker said. “It focuses on activism, and it focuses on women and particularly a woman of an African woman of color.”
The film’s narrative stems from Maldoror’s desire to display stories of people whose voices typically go unheard, Starker said. In fact, she said Maldoror’s own voice has gone unheard in most parts of the world until now.
“There’s been conversation in the art world for a while about how way too often, women artists are not recognized for their work until they’ve either passed or they’re well into their senior years,” Starker said. “Compound that with the fact that she’s an African artist, and these are realities that for several reasons — a number of systemic issues — artists who fit that demographic won’t necessarily get the attention that they should.”
Starker said celebrating undervalued artists like Maldoror is one of the center’s best and most fulfilling capabilities.
“We can help correct some of the past challenges and biases that have worked against filmmakers and artists, like Sarah,” Starker said.
“Sarah Maldoror: Tricontinental Cinema” will open at the Wexner Center for the Arts Saturday and conclude on April 28. More information about the exhibit can be found on the center’s website.
