Media release
Zeitz MOCAA presents We Proceed in the Footsteps of the Sunlight by Zohra Opoku
- The first museum survey exhibition of Ghanaian-German artist Zohra Opoku
- Brings together textured expressions of personal history and cultural inheritance, revealing an artistic journey in constant motion
- Maps the artist’s trajectory over the past decade through several major bodies of work, anchored by three recurring elements: Water, Breath, Ground
(Cape Town, Thursday, 14 August 2025) — Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Zeitz MOCAA) presents We Proceed in the Footsteps of the Sunlight, the first museum survey exhibition of Ghanaian-German artist Zohra Opoku. Tracing a decade of quiet revolutions in cloth, memory, and self, the exhibition brings together textured expressions of personal history and cultural inheritance, revealing an artistic journey in constant motion. Curated by Beata America and Dr Phokeng Setai, the exhibition opens on Thursday, 11 September 2025 on Level 3 Elevator Side of the museum and runs until 4 October 2026.
Born in 1976 in Altdöbern (former GDR/East Germany), Opoku later relocated to Accra, Ghana, to reconnect with her ancestral roots. She now lives and works in Accra, represented by Mariane Ibrahim (Chicago, Paris, Mexico City). Her multidisciplinary practice, deeply rooted in personal history and cultural heritage, explores the layered intersections of identity and memory, bridging cultures, geographies, and time.
Opoku shares: ‘The transition from being based in Germany to being in Ghana and bringing those two worlds together in a conversation—whether through material, handcraft, or memory—is important. It allows others to relate to the work, especially within the diaspora, where people have similar experiences.’
For Opoku, this dialogue becomes a form of visual storytelling—an evolving, textured archive of identity that is both intimate and quietly powerful. Trained in fashion design and photography in Germany, Opoku extends her command of textiles into a layered visual language, moving fluidly between photography, printmaking, and textile-based installation. Fabric emerges as a generative medium through which questions of identity, memory, and ancestral lineage are thoughtfully explored. These themes unfold across the breadth of her practice, as she turns to printmaking, photography, and sculpture as complementary mediums for reflecting on selfhood and lived experience.
This survey maps the artist’s trajectory over the past decade through several major bodies of work, anchored by three recurring elements: Water — signalling the fluidity of practice and sanctification of daily rituals, as seen in After the prayer / before the prayer (2018); Breath — the life force that feeds the spirit, suspended between life and death, explored in The Myths of Eternal Life (2020–2024); Ground — the stabilising force of nature, a site of comfort, rootedness, identity, and familial belonging, depicted in Queen Mothers (2016), Unraveled Threads (2017) and Give Me Back My Black Dolls (2024–ongoing).
The title, We Proceed in the Footsteps of the Sunlight, is drawn from the Book of the Dead—also known as Coming Forth by Day—an ancient Egyptian funerary text guiding the soul beyond the physical world. In Opoku’s interpretation, it becomes a quiet declaration: a record of passage through turbulence and a signpost to the path ahead. The full extract reads: I proceed in the footsteps of the sunlight. I am one who knows the path of secrets (and) the Gate of the Field of Reeds. I exist therein. See me, I am come. I have overthrown my enemies upon the earth. My corpse, it is buried.
Co-curator Beata America explains: ‘The curatorial intent speaks to emotional fortitude, mental tenderness, and spiritual depth, positioning Opoku at the centre of her universe—steady and alert—both protector of, and protected by, the life-giving sun that illuminates her path. The exhibition stands as an homage to ancestral presence and future lineage, grounded in the knowledge that while life is fleeting, the soul endures.’
We Proceed in the Footsteps of the Sunlight forms part of Zeitz MOCAA’s ongoing series of in-depth, research-driven solo exhibitions that centre and contextualise the practices of significant artists from Africa and its diaspora, while engaging with pivotal themes in Pan-African history. Extending beyond the continent’s borders, this programme embraces enduring and emerging entanglements, positioning Africa within a global context, and the world within Africa’s.
As a groundbreaking institution dedicated to preserving and promoting contemporary art from Africa and its diaspora, this exhibition reflects the museum’s vision to produce and present cutting-edge contemporary exhibitions, deepen art historical knowledge, amplify the careers of Africa’s most talented artists, strengthen education programmes, and ensure access for all.
Zeitz MOCAA’s exhibition and curatorial programming is generously supported by the Mellon Foundation and BMW South Africa.
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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 ensures access for all. The museum’s galleries feature rotating temporary exhibitions with dedicated space for the permanent collection. The institution also includes the BMW Centre for Art Education 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 – 6 pm (last entry at 5.30 pm). zeitzmocaa.museum
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. www.bmwgroup.com