Media release

• Benissan’s work highlights and celebrates the rich traditions of Ghanaian culture, with a focus on Asante customs.
• One Must Be Seated forms part of an ongoing series of in-depth, research-based solo exhibitions by Zeitz MOCAA.
• The exhibition opens 13 November 2024 and runs until 5 October 2025.

(Cape Town, 23 October 2024): Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Zeitz MOCAA) presentsOne Must Be Seated, a solo exhibition by Ghanaian-American artist Rita Mawuena Benissan. Deeply rooted within her Ghanaian culture, Benissan’s practice has particular focus on the reimagining of the royal umbrella and stool, symbols of Akan chieftaincy. The exhibition explores the enstoolment of a prospective chief, akin to coronation; a call to take their rightful seat in the stool that has been chosen for them. The exhibition opens Wednesday, 13 November 2024 on Level 3, Silo Side of the museum, and runs until 5 October 2025.  

Through tapestry, sculpture, photography and video, Benissan’s work highlights and celebrates the rich traditions of Ghanaian culture, with a focus on Asante customs. The royal umbrella has been used since at least the 17th century; it transforms the individual underneath it, attributing significant status. Different sizes, colours, and unique gold totems that crown the umbrella canopy are seen as they move with the court in lively procession. Under the umbrella, the chief and his thoughts are hidden from the heavens above, prohibiting even God from accessing them.  

Benissan delicately reimagines this cultural object through the use of the archive. As we see in works like The Triumphant King Rules (?hene a wadi Nkonim No Di Tumi) (2023) portraits of past chiefs are embedded within the fabric of the umbrella which is traditionally made with woven Kente cloth and reinterpreted in rich velvet by the artist. Her works are made by the same craftsmen who make the royal umbrellas for the palace in Kumasi, the Asante capital. By intentionally naming these artisans as collaborators, the artist honours the hands that uphold the traditions of the chieftaincy. 

“The exhibition layout simulates the enstoolment tradition with each successive gallery symbolising a stage in the process,” explains Beata America, the curator of the exhibition, and Assistant Curator at Zeitz MOCAA. Prompted by the new film, One Must Be Seated (2024), from which the exhibition takes its title, you are invited to be nominated and confronted by the ancestors. “Have you not seen the seat that we made for you? You were made to be seated.” Walking through, one passes the palace at dusk, depicted in an intricately woven tapestry, We Process at Sunrise (2024); receives a powerful affirmation of growth and renewal in the green shades of We Give Power to You(2024), another umbrella work; and is ultimately led to the final golden throne. America adds: “It will embrace its chosen, sealing the bond between leader and legacy. When the time comes, will you be open to receive the call?”

Benissan was born in Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire in 1995 to Ghanaian parents. Her journey led her to the United States as a baby, where she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Apparel and Textile Design from Michigan State University in 2017, followed by a Master of Fine Arts in photography and an African Studies Program Certificate from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2021. Rita’s works have been acquired by private and institutional collections, including Foundation H, The Dean Collection, Fundacion Yannick Y Ben, Paola Pavirani Golinelli, Nicolas Berggruen, Amoako Boafo, and many others. 

One Must Be Seated forms part of an ongoing series of in-depth, research-based solo exhibitions by Zeitz MOCAA that bring into focus and contextualise the practices of important artists from Africa and the Diaspora, and those whose work focuses on seminal topics in the African present. 

Zeitz MOCAA’s exhibition and curatorial programming is generously supported by Gucci, the Mellon Foundation, and BMW South Africa. 

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Please find the media toolkit with full biographies, imagery and image credits, here. To attend the Media Preview on Wednesday, 13 November at 8.30 am for 9 am – 11 am, please RSVP here. To schedule interviews and receive further information, please contact Evaan Jason Ferreira at evaanjason.ferreira@zeitzmocaa.museum.

Issued by Zeitz MOCAA Communications.

 About Zeitz MOCAA

Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Zeitz MOCAA) is a public not-for-profit institution that collects, preserves, researches and exhibits contemporary art from Africa and its diaspora; conceives and hosts international exhibitions; develops supporting educational, discursive and enrichment programmes; encourages intercultural understanding; and strives towards access for all. The museum’s galleries feature rotating temporary exhibitions with dedicated space for the permanent collection. The institution also includes the Centre for Art Education (CFAE), and The Atelier, a museum residency programme for artists living and working in Cape Town.

Zeitz MOCAA, situated at the Silo District, South Arm Road, V&A Waterfront in Cape Town, South Africa, is open Monday through Sunday, 10 am to 6 pm (last entry at 5.30 pm).
zeitzmocaa.museum   

About Gucci

Founded in Florence, Italy, in 1921, Gucci is one of the world’s leading luxury brands, led by President and CEO Marco Bizzarri and Creative Director Alessandro Michele. Following the House’s centenary, Gucci forges ahead into the next hundred years, continuing to redefine luxury while celebrating the creativity, craftsmanship and innovation at the core of its values.

Gucci is part of the global luxury group, Kering, which manages the development of a series of renowned Houses in fashion, leather goods, jewellery and watches.
gucci.com.

About the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation is the United States’ largest supporter of the arts and humanities. Since 1969, the Foundation has been guided by its core belief that the humanities and arts are essential to human understanding. The Foundation believes that the arts and humanities are where we express our complex humanity and that everyone deserves the beauty, transcendence and freedom that can be found there. Through our grants, we seek to build just communities enriched by meaning and empowered by critical thinking, where ideas and imagination can thrive.
mellon.org.

About the BMW Group

With its four brands BMW, MINI, Rolls-Royce and BMW Motorrad, the BMW Group is the world’s leading premium manufacturer of automobiles and motorcycles and also provides premium financial and mobility services. The BMW Group production network comprises over 30 production sites worldwide; the company has a global sales network in more than 140 countries.

In 2023, the BMW Group sold over 2.55 million passenger vehicles and more than 209,000 motorcycles worldwide. The profit before tax in the financial year 2023 was € 17.1 billion on revenues amounting to € 155.5 billion. As of 31 December 2023, the BMW Group had a workforce of 154,950 employees.The success of the BMW Group has always been based on long-term thinking and responsible action. The company set the course for the future at an early stage and consistently makes sustainability and efficient resource management central to its strategic direction, from the supply chain through production to the end of the use phase of all products. bmwgroup.com