The sudden death of the Cameroon-born curator Koyo Kouoh, at the age of 57 and at the height of her career, has shaken the art world. Her passing has left a void in the African arts scene, one which extends far beyond the continent.
Born in 1967 in Douala, she spent her teenage and early adult years in Zurich, Switzerland before returning to the continent and settling in Senegal. She lived in Cape Town, South Africa from 2019. There she was executive director and chief curator of the Zeitz MOCAA museum. It holds the continent’s largest collection of contemporary art.
At the time of her death, she was due to become the first African woman to lead the prestigious Venice Biennale, dubbed the “Olympics of art world”.
She described her practice, as a creative manager of art spaces and exhibitions, as being deeply rooted in:
A pan-African, feminist, ancestral, activist perspective, but also one that is generous, inclusive and welcoming.
Kouoh was unapologetic about her commitment to promoting Africa and Africanness on the global stage. Her decorated career included serving in global roles as curatorial advisor for leading exhibitions and art events.
As a researcher of modern and contemporary arts of Africa, I first met Kouoh in 2015 when she facilitated a curatorial workshop I attended. I would work with her at Zeitz MOCAA, specifically helping research her landmark show, When We See Us: A Century of Black Figuration in Painting.
Beyond these achievements, Kouoh mentored countless artists and art organisers, especially women. She leaves a legacy of building sustainable art institutions, critical curating with care, uplifting artists and cultural workers, and educating through art.
Institution building
In her own words:
My motto has always been, You have to set up your own house and build your own home as opposed to trying to get into someone else’s castle.
One of the lasting legacies Kouoh left is teaching how to build African arts institutions, which help give creatives the chance to be seen and heard, and to make independent decisions free of the demands of funders.
The RAW Material Company that she established in Dakar stands as testimony of that. Through the artist residency and exhibition space, she was able to bring many independent and emerging artists, curators and gallerists to Senegal. There she published books on art from the continent, helping nurture and shift the Africa art ecosystem as it began to play an increasingly visible role in global art markets.
Her role in reviving the unstable ship that was the Zeitz MOCAA at the time she took over and steering it to becoming one of Africa’s leading cultural institutions and a global competitor says a lot about her vision. As she said:
I’m a fixer, I like to take complicated institutions and make them sustainable.
Education
The exhibitions she led were thoroughly researched and tended to generate critical discourse and public dialogue. When We See Us, for example, comes with an education programme that includes a webinar series.
Each exhibition of the show as it tours globally comes with a symposium and a publication with contributions from critical thinkers in the art industry. Even more impressive is how she managed to bring together people from different sectors, including respected academics, cultural workers and captains of industry.
We cannot talk about Kouoh’s contributions to art education without mentioning the Zeitz MOCAA & University of the Western Cape Museum Fellowship Programme, geared to grow “curatorial practice as well as advance scholarship on contemporary art discourse from the continent”. In my tenure, I observed that the museum’s Centre for Art Education and its outreach programme were closest to her heart.
Celebrating African artists
At Zeitz MOCAA, Kouoh was more drawn to research-based solo exhibitions or select surveys which offered in-depth insights into “individual practices, with retrospectives and monographs”. In her time at the museum it shone a spotlight on African artists like Senzeni Marasela, Johannes Phokela, Tracey Rose, Mary Evans, Otobong Nkanga and others.
Through the museum’s ongoing Atelier programme, a studio residency which is open and experimental in nature, audiences gain insights into an artist’s practice, process, thinking and intentions. So far, artists like Thania Petersen, Igshaan Adams, Unathi Mkonto and Berni Searle have shared these processes, which normally remain invisible to those who only see the final work.
She did all this in just over five years in Cape Town.
Uplifting generations
Kouoh believed in people’s potential and saw infinite possibilities in each one of us. This can be seen through the many peers and young talents she mentored and provided space to flourish. The young team of mostly Black female curators she has left in place at Zeitz MOCAA is proof of that. She cared about the welfare of the people around her.
Of the need to elevate women, she stated:
The importance, or rather the urgency, of focusing on women’s voices cannot be highlighted enough.
Curator of the Venice Biennale 2026
Recently appointed as the next Venice Biennale’s artistic director, Kouoh was due to present the exhibition’s title and theme in Venice on 20 May.
Those who have known her practice, as well as her obsessions and values, keenly anticipated the day, knowing African voices would take centre stage. I hope her team will be allowed to execute her ideas to the end.
Legacy
Kouoh belonged to a pioneering generation of African curators who worked hard for the recognition of African voices and creativity on the global stage. Although that recognition started to be earned in the 1990s, she realised a lot more still needed to be done, which is why she never stopped working, even at the most difficult of times.
She shared her vision of building strong independent institutions, encouraging others to do the same. She led in documenting and critically engaging artistic processes, and in producing African knowledge.
May her legacy and her spirit live on. As she said:
I do believe in life after death, because I come from an ancestral black education where we believe in parallel lives and realities.
Barnabas Ticha Muvhuti receives funding from the Robert J. and Nancy D. Carney Endowment in Art History
By Barnabas Ticha Muvhuti, Nancy and Robert J. Carney Postdoctoral Associate in Art History, Rice University
