Explore upcoming exhibitions, screenings, and workshops featuring gallery artists—including Phyllis Galembo’s solo museum exhibition, Kongo Astronauts and Theo Eshetu showing in Helsinki and Hervé Youmbi in the United States and Cameroon, presentations of Gideon Mendel and Oumar Ka at museums in the U.S. and Europe, and Sue Pam-Grant’s recently released artist’s book. | |
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Mexico Masks | Rituals: Photographs by Phyllis Galembbo
solo exhibition curated by Steffi Ibis Duarte
August 29, 2026 — January 3, 2027
Exhibition Reception, September 18, 2026, 5:00-7:00 pm
Artist Talk: Phyllis Galembo: October 18, 2026, 2-3 pm
Since the 1980s, Phyllis Galembo has photographed ceremonial dress and masquerade traditions in communities around the globe. Mexico Masks / Rituals focuses on Mexico’s enduring traditions of regional festivals and ritual celebrations. Several costumes from Galembo's collection reveal the materiality of the craftsmanship in the outfits captured in her images.
ALBANY INSTITUTE OF HISTORY & ART
125 Washington Avenue,
Albany, NY 12210
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ongoing
THEO ESHETU
Venice Biennale
In Minor Keys
by Koyo Kouoh & team
May 9 —November 22, 2026
61st International Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia
Venice, Italy
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Theo Eshetu
The Slave Ship, 2015
Single-channel multi-media installation
14:28 mins Edition: 5 + 2 AP
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Who Goes Hunting Does Not Cough
curated by Kisito Assangni
September 11 — October 12, 2026
Screenings at EMMA Museum, Helsinki
September 16 2026.
EMMA ESPOO MUSEUM OF MODERN ART
Exhibition Centre WeeGee
Ahertajantie 5, Tapiola
Espoo
TEKNIKAN MUSEO
Viikintie 1
00560 Helsinki
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Kongo Astronauts
Waiting for the Sun, 2023 (film stills)
Single channel video
Duration: 4’30”
Edition: 5 +2 AP
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WAITING FOR THE SUN SPACEWALKER, 2023
Seattle Art Museum
on display in the rotation of the permanent collection
through November 2026
Seattle Art Museum
1300 First Avenue
Seattle, WA 98101
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ongoing
GIDEON MENDEL
Tenderness and Rage
curated by Adam Rose
Explores HIV and AIDS through stories of protest and care, from the height of the UK’s AIDS epidemic in the 1980s and 1990s to global experiences of HIV today. Through photography, film, and archival materials, the display connects everyday acts of care with activists’ fights for dignity, rights, and equitable access to treatment. At its center are two photographic series created with Gideon Mendel. ‘The Ward’ (1993) documents the lives of patients in AIDS wards at Middlesex Hospital in London, while ‘Through Positive Eyes’ – a project led by the Art & Global Health Center at UCLA – shares the perspectives of HIV activists worldwide.
Mendel's series, The Ward, highlights some of the few AIDS wards that existed in London before the era when antiretroviral medications became available. Many of the mostly young, gay men faced the terrifying prospect of an early and painful death. Given the stigma and fear that existed at the time, their openness to being photographed in these circumstances was an act of considerable bravery.
May 29, 2026 — May 30, 2027
welcome collection
183 Euston Road
London NW1 2BE
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Gideon Mendel
John and his Partner, Middlesex Hospital, London, 1993
from the series: The Ward
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current
GIDEON MENDEL
Drowning World — Gideon Mendel
though April 25, 2027
Musée de la Résistance et de la Déportation de l'Isère
14 rue Hébert
38000 Grenoble, France
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ongoing
GIDEON MENDEL
Second Nature: Photography in the Age of the Anthropocene
co-curated by Jessica May and Marshall N. Price
May 22 — October 13, 2026
Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art
4420 Warwick Boulevard
Kansas City, MO 64111
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SUE PAM-GRANT
Last Night of the World: Proscenium Eros Rose
Artist Book, June 2026
16 fine art ink jet prints on Felix Schoeller True Fibre 230gsm paper
Edition of 15 + 5 AP
Handwritten, signed, and editioned colophon
Handmade box with front- and inside-cover de-embossed with gold foiling
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current
OUMAR KA
Two vintage works by Oumar Ka are featured in
Portraiture & Archives in African Photography
Guest curated by Ibrahima Thiam, foregrounding his perspective as a contemporary photographer,
with Eskenazi Museum curator Allison Martino, Beth Buggenhagen of Indiana University faculty,
and Cory Gundlach, Art Curator of Stanley Museum
August 22 — December 13, 2026
Stanley Museum of Art
160 W. Burlington St
Iowa City, IA 52242
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Oumar Ka
Senegalese (1930-2020)
Active 1959-68, Touba, Senegal
Printed February 8th, 1978
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Oumar Ka
Senegalese (1930-2020)
Active 1959-68, Touba, Senegal
Printed 1980
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Hervé Youmbi
Installation view, Museum of Fine Arts St. Petersburg
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Hervé Youmbi
Predator Mask Installation view, Museum of Fine Arts St. Petersburg
Photo by Jimmy Fisher
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HÉRVE YOUMBI
is a participant in
Performing Provenance:
Research-Creation Workshops Cameroon
August 25-30, 2026 – Bandjoun Station
August 24 & Sept. 4, 2026 – CPCA Yaoundé
Youmbi's film Visages des Masques, 2026
was screened on August 29, 2026, at Bandjoun Station
followed by a discussion including Hervé Youmbi
and the sculptor and beadwork artists with whom he collaborates
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Summer highlights for Axis Gallery's activities in classical African Art included
AFRICA FASHION
at musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac
Co-curators Hélène Joubert and Christine Barthe
amplified the show originated by Christine Checinska of Victoria & Albert Museum, London,
presenting a pavilion of historical works from the French national collection,
including several ceremonial outfits, textiles, and beadwork acquired from Axis Gallery,
with Xesibe and Ndebele ensembles joining other artworks from Axis in the permanent display.
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Clay has Memory: Creative Lineages from Africa
Curated by Perrin Lathrop
explores how ceramic knowledge is sustained across generations of artists
and features ceramics by Landeleni Matomu Nesta Nala and her daughter Jabulile Nala acquired from Axis Gallery.
Princeton University Art Museum
July 19, 2026 — July 3, 2027
African ceramics is a vital element of Axis Gallery’s longstanding focus on under-emphasized mediums of African Art and particularly art by women. In recent months, Axis has placed and donated important contemporary and historical ceramics,
such as those seen above and below, into several museum collections.
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Kurumba storage vessel
Yatenga, Burkina Faso
25"H x 15"D
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Lobi Ceremonial Vessel
Burkina Faso
18”H x 13” D
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Bozo Janus ritual vessel
Mali
17 1/2"H x 18"D
| | Axis Gallery | 212-741-2582 | info@axisgallery.com | axis.gallery | | | | |
