Fall 2023: Understanding Museum Audiences and African Arts Provenance
Highlighting provenance—the ownership history of a work of art or other object—has been growing in museums as part of important conversations about collecting and exhibiting African cultural heritage. But how much do museum visitors understand about provenance, and what is their interest in it? Do museums present provenance in a way that is engaging and easy to understand? The Department of Research and Evaluation of the Cleveland Museum of Art has undertaken audience evaluations in 2021 and 2023 that seek to answer these questions. These digital and in-person evaluation projects center on the museum’s African arts gallery, and a September 2020 reinstallation of eight works from the Benin Kingdom that include full provenance on their gallery labels in addition to on the museum’s website. As one of the few museums with an R&E department, this research represents a unique perspective on visitor viewpoints about provenance and an important tool for enhancing communication.
In this webinar, CMA’s Hannah Ridenour LaFrance (Research Manager, Department of Research & Evaluation) and Courage Kusena (Past Undergraduate Intern, Department of Research and Evaluation) will discuss the goals, methods, and findings of these evaluation projects. Facilitating the conversation, Kristen Windmuller-Luna (Curator of African Arts) will discuss the history of sharing provenance information at CMA, and consider how insight gained from evaluations of museum visitors’ engagement with and understanding of provenance can be implemented in future exhibitions.
Recently news cycles and media outlets have highlighted the pressing issue of repatriation of African cultural heritage to various countries—primarily museum or government bodies. Yet, few highlight the actual processes for repatriations or returns, and the collaborations necessary to enact them, nor do they report on what happens on the receiving end: Who is instrumental to the procedures (and does the hard work)? How much time, effort, and funding is involved, and what comes next? What is the life of these artworks now and into the future, and how are they benefitting communities? How can North American scholars and museum practitioners learn from these successes to navigate and strengthen future partnerships and the global circulation of objects?
Bringing together contributors from Africa and North America, this webinar presents two case studies of recent returns and the real international collaborations necessary to their success, as well as a status report on the recently returned ancestors (Kenya) and royal arts (Ghana). Robin Cooper, Manager of Curatorial Affairs and Jennifer Rigsby, Registrar for Permanent Collections at the Newfields Museum in Indianapolis, and Purity Kiura, Chief Research Scientist at the National Museums of Kenya report on a return of vigango ancestors to the National Museum in Nairobi and to communities of coastal Kenya, while Erica Jones, Senior Curator of African Arts at the Fowler Museum, UCLA and Kwasi Ampene, Professor at Tufts University, present on the logistics, collaborations, and aftermath of returns recently made to Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, the Asante king. The reports offer two compelling processes from differing museum contexts. While one offers a case of mid-20 th century ancestral sculpture associated with living communities in Kenya from a museum without an African arts curator, the other return process represents a colonial era theft during an act of war and a return to Ghana’s Asantehene from a museum with multiple specialists and an extensive collection.
This thought-provoking webinar discussion examines how museums can reshape their approaches to collecting and displaying African art through ethical transparency, inclusive narratives, and critical practices. Inspired by the New African Masquerades: Artistic Innovations and Collaborations exhibition (April 4–August 10, 2025) at NOMA, this panel explores case studies that honor artist agency, cultural authenticity, and global accountability by centering the voices of African artists and their communities. Beyond celebration, this dialogue challenges us to rethink, reimagine, and drive actionable change toward a more just and accountable future for African art curation.
Panelists include Aindrea Emelife, Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Museum of West African Art, Genevieve Hill-Thomas, Professor of Art History at Ringling College of Art + Design, Jean Borgatti, Consulting Curator at Fitchburg Art Museum, Jordan Fenton, Associate Professor of Art History at Miami University, and Paul Davis, Curator of Collections at The Menil Collection. This virtual event is presented in partnership between the Arts Council of the African Studies Association and the New Orleans Museum of Art.