Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Zeitz MOCAA) and the University of the Western Cape (UWC) welcome five fellows from across the African continent to participate in the third year of the Zeitz MOCAA & UWC Museum Fellowship Programme. The pan-African museum fellowship programme encourages discourse around contemporary art, curatorial practice, art education, conservation, heritage and museology from Africa and the African diaspora.
The 2024 cohort includes Algerian curator Yasmina Ali Yahia; curator Angela Muritu from Nairobi, Kenya; Angolan curator and cultural producer Edna Bettencourt; Congolese-born curator and researcher Kakule Chadrack; and artist and curator Abbey IT-A from Ghana.
The programme endeavours to increase knowledge production around curatorial practice, arts administration and heritage management. It offers fellows exposure to museum practice facilitated by Zeitz MOCAA senior staff and is underpinned by academic rigour in art, heritage and museum scholarship facilitated by the University of the Western Cape’s Department of Historical Studies. Fellows study and work with both institutions towards an accredited BA Honours qualification.
Fellows will gain practical work experience at Zeitz MOCAA in the Curatorial, Registrar & Collection Management, Exhibition Design, Art Education, and Institutional Advancement departments. After an initial orientation and rotation period within the various departments, each member of the cohort is now well settled in their respective departments since 1 May.
They actively contribute to the research, planning, execution and management of Zeitz MOCAA projects, ranging from exhibitions, publishing and public programming to art education and fundraising. This year, the cohort’s project is the Zeitz MOCAA Atelier residency programme where a Cape Town-based artist takes residency in the museum for an eight-month period to create new work, conduct research and develop ideas for future projects. The one-year programme will culminate with an Atelier-focused public programming initiative led by the 2024 cohort, in close collaboration with the museum team and the artist.
Zeitz MOCAA and UWC are also pleased to announce the open call for the 2025 Museum Fellowship Programme, inviting aspiring contemporary art and museum professionals in Africa to join this transformative year-long journey. The closing date for applications is 30 June 2024. Only the first 100 applications will be considered. Successful applications will be contacted by 5 August 2024. For more information on the museum fellowship programme click here.
Follow @zeitzmocaa on social media to track the journey of the 2024 Zeitz MOCAA & UWC Museum Fellows. The Zeitz MOCAA & UWC Museum Fellowship Programme is generously supported by the Mellon Foundation.
MEET THE 2024 COHORT
Yasmina Ali Yahia (Algeria)
Yasmina Ali Yahia is a young Algerian-French curator in the making at the intersection between visual arts, anthropology and humanities.
Her work focuses on socially and politically engaged practices, research-based art, and the nexus between public institutions, curatorship, and public engagement in Africa. Born in Paris, raised in Algiers, she has always been concerned with postcolonial relations and exchanges in African societies, as well as societal issues that arise from them, and advocates a committed and inclusive approach to curating. She has contributed to the curation of several international exhibitions including #MeToo & The Arts (July 21 – October 21, 2018. Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada), Ana Silva (April 7 – 10, 2022. 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair, Paris, France), and Frédéric Bruly Bouabré: On Ne Compte Pas Les Étoiles (June 2 – July 30, 2022. MAGNIN-A Gallery, Paris, France).
Ali Yahia holds a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Art Mediation from the Université Paris-III, Sorbonne Nouvelle (2017) and attended both the University of Quebec in Montreal and SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies), University of London, where she studied Museology and African Art Theory, respectively, leading to Master’s degrees (MA).
Angela Muritu (Kenya)
Angela Muritu is a dynamic curator from Nairobi, Kenya. She is dedicated to foregrounding artists’ work and fostering sustainable and ethical practices in creative and cultural spaces.
She is interested in the histories of artistic and curatorial practices from the African continent and its diasporas and their articulation through the explorations of indigeneity, transnational artistic movements and dialogues.
Angela has made significant contributions to the arts and culture scene in Nairobi. She has worked in various roles within arts organizations such as the Brush Tu Artists’ Collective, Kuona Artists’ Collective, Contemporary And, and the Nairobi Contemporary Art Institute.
She has curated the art collection of the Australian High Commission in Nairobi, and most recently, the collective memory art exhibition We Are Speaking, Are You Listening (2023) at the Alliance Française in Nairobi for SEMA and the Dr. Denis Mukwege Foundation.
She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Art and Design from Kenyatta University and has taken part in curatorial residencies and gatherings such as the A4 Arts Foundation Curatorial Connective and Turn 2 Labs: Experiencing Nairobi as Felt Time.
Edna Bettencourt (Angola)
Edna Bettencourt is a distinguished Angolan curator and cultural producer, recognized for her significant contributions to the contemporary African art scene. She graduated from the University of Aveiro in Portugal with a degree in Translation & Administration, kickstarting her career as an intern at Nuno Sacramento Art Gallery in Aveiro. Edna’s formative years in Portugal, although valuable, instilled in her a sense of non-belonging, prompting her to seek opportunities in the art world in her homeland, Angola. Her journey led her to MOVART Gallery in Luanda, where she managed the project for four years, collaborating with renowned artists such as Mário Macilau, Ana Silva, Keyezua, and others, and working with notable curators and cultural institutions.
Currently based in Luanda, Edna serves as the Project Manager for The NESR Art Foundation, founded in 2021 by Hiba and Wissam Nesr, focusing on supporting Angolan and African artists. In this role, she oversees the residency program and manages the Foundation’s collection, fostering a platform for artistic research, production, and critical discourse. Edna’s dedication to the arts extends beyond her managerial roles. Recently, she has been selected as a fellow for the Zeitz MOCAA and University of Western Cape Fellowship program, also selected for the traveler granted for the CIMAM Conference in Buenos Aires, and a jury member for the residency program HFBK Hamburg 2024 with the Goethe Institute in Angola. Additionally, she was part of the Selection Committee for the Henrike Grohs Art Award 2023.
Edna’s commitment to artistic exchange is evident in her involvement. In 2020, right before the global pandemic she attended the MACAAL boot camp in Morocco, where she engaged with a diverse group of cultural agents, artists, and gallerists from across Africa. Her expansive experience and passion for empowering artists continue to shape the cultural landscape of Angola and contribute to the broader discourse surrounding contemporary African art.
Chadrack Kakule (Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Congolese-born Kakule Chadrack is a curator and researcher working across the themes of non-extractive curatorial practices, the reproduction of cultural oppressive systems in Africa, decolonial thinking, and the reappropriation of discourse on contemporary art from Africa.
With a background in philosophy, he is interested in interpreting the coloniality of artistic and cultural discourse. From January 2022 to January 2024, he worked with Centre d’art Waza in Lubumbashi, on research, archival, exhibition, and mediation projects.
He has participated in various curatorial and educational programs, including the Independent Curators International (ICI) Curatorial Intensive in Kampala (2022), Another Roadmap Africa Cluster (ARAC / Lubumbashi Working Group), and Ecole du soir. He also participated in Documenta fifteen as a member of Centre d’art Waza. Recent curatorial activities include the invitation at Documenta fifteen in Kassel (Germany) for the public Program “Baraza y aba Kirata. Stories and thoughts on non-extractive curatorial practices”, curatorial lecture at “Changing City – 50 Years of Public Art” in Bremen (Germany) on the theme “Towards non-extractives curating. Karata as an alternative way of thinking, producing and sharing”.
Abbey IT-A (Ghana)
Presently finding liminal grounds between artistic practice and the curatorial, Abbey IT-A is increasingly interested in the proverbial discursiveness inherent in Contemporary Art and how it holds in praxis. They explore this concern through experimental, multi-vocal, curatorial interventions with photography, video, text, and conversation as likely points of departure in an independent art practice. As a curator at the Foundation for Contemporary Art-Ghana, they help support contemporary Ghanaian art practices and discourses through research, workshops, seminars, exhibitions, interventions, and labs. ?
Educated in Ghana, they earned their BFA from the Department of Painting and Sculpture, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, where they are currently a candidate for an MFA. Abbey is a recipient of the Prince Claus Seed Awards (2023) and a current Fellow at the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa & the University of the Western Cape where they are researching the relevance of museums to Africa – as a continent dealing with rapturous implications of colonialist/imperialist ideologies which irrevocably produced the museum as an institution. ?
Abbey lives and works in Accra, Kumasi and now Cape Town. ?
Portraits photographed by Ramiie_G, courtesy of Zeitz MOCAA.