Afection that weaves curatorship: Koyo Kouoh, the spider-mother of Senegal

Authors

  • Antonia Costa de Thuin Universidade Federal do ABC (UFABC)

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.11606/issn.2448-1750.revmae.2025.237379

Keywords:

Koyo Kouoh, Dakar, African Art, Curatorship, Raw Material Company

Abstract

This article aims to present the carrier of the Cameroonian curator Koyo Kouoh, that was educated in Switzerland and chose Dakar to live and to work. Using the archetype of the Spider-mother, weaver, spinnerit, I bring here the exhibitions Body Talk: Feminism, Sexuality & The Body and When We See Us – A Century of Black Figuration in Painting and the spaces Raw Material Company, built in Dacar by Kouoh e Zeitz MOCAA, in Cape Town, where she went to
work in 2019 to, in dialogue with her interviews and texts, show how Kouoh’s work, above all, intended to stablish networks with creators, artists and thinkers in the African Continent.

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Author Biography

  • Antonia Costa de Thuin, Universidade Federal do ABC (UFABC)

    Doutora em Literatura, Cultura e Contemporaneidade pela PUC-Rio, com estágio doutoral na Universidade de Obafemi Awolowo, em Ilê-Ifé (Nigéria, 2017). Mestre em Literatura, Cultura e Contemporaneidade pela PUC-Rio, com bolsa CNPq. Pós-graduada em História da Arte e Arquitetura no Brasil pela PUC-Rio (2005) e em Interpretação de conferências pela mesma instituição (2010). Graduada em Desenho Industrial pela Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (1997). Tem experiência na área de Letras, atuando principalmente nos seguintes temas: literaturas africanas, tradução, literatura de viagem.

References

BAROIS DE CAEVEL, Eva; KOUOH, Koyo; EBBESEN, Mika Hayashi; et al (Orgs.). Condition Report 3: Symposium on Art History in Africa: Organized by RAW Material Company in collaboration with Ugochukwu-Smooth C Nzewi = De l’histoire de l’art en Afrique: état des lieux. Erscheinungsort nicht ermittelbar: RAW Material Company, 2020.

DERRIDA, Jacques. Mal de arquivo: uma impressão freudiana. Rio de Janeiro: Relume Dumará, 2001.

ENWEZOR, Okwui; OKEKE-AGULU, Chika. Contemporary African art since 1980. Bologna: Damiani, 2009.

KOUOH, Koyo. RAW Académie Session 6 CURA.

KOUOH, Koyo; KEN BUGUL; DHLAKAMA, Tandazani; et al (Orgs.). When we see us: a century of black figuration in painting. London: Thames & Hudson, 2022.

KOUOH, Koyo; RAW MATERIAL COMPANY; GOETHE-INSTITUT; et al (Orgs.). Condition Report: Symposium on Building Art Institutions in Africa: = Etat des Lieux: Symposium sur la création d’institutions d’art en Afrique. Ostfildern: Hatje Cantz, 2013.

LA REDACTION. Koyo Kouoh : sa vie, son œuvre et sa pensée en quelques citations. asakan. Disponível em: <https://asakan.art/koyo-kouoh-sa-vie-son-oeuvre-et-sa-pensee-en-quelques-citations/>. Acesso em: 29 maio 2025.

LA RÉDACTION. La Biennale d’Art de Venise 2026 se tiendra du 9 mai au 22 novembre sous le thème In Minor Keys de Koyo Kouoh. asakan. Disponível em: <https://asakan.art/la-biennale-dart-de-venise-2026-se-tiendra-du-9-mai-au-22-novembre-sous-le-theme-in-minor-keys-de-koyo-kouoh/>. Acesso em: 29 maio 2025.

SCHVARTZMAN&; BURNS, Charlotte. The Art World: What if…?!, Koyo Kouoh. In: [s.l.: s.n., s.d.]. (the art World: What if…?!). Disponível em: <https://www.schwartzmanand.com/art-posts-the-art-world/the-art-world-s2ep9pt1-koyo-kouoh>. Acesso em: 29 maio 2025.

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Published

2025-12-31

Issue

No. 45 (2025): Dossier The Influences in the Arts from Dakar

Section

Dossiê

License

Copyright (c) 2025 Antonia Costa de Thuin

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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How to Cite

THUIN, Antonia Costa de. Afection that weaves curatorship: Koyo Kouoh, the spider-mother of Senegal. Revista do Museu de Arqueologia e Etnologia, São Paulo, Brasil, n. 45, p. 94–105, 2025. DOI: 10.11606/issn.2448-1750.revmae.2025.237379. Disponível em: https://revistas.usp.br/revmae/article/view/237379. Acesso em: 7 may. 2026.