Cinthia Sifa Mulanga, “Self-sureness”, 2021. Mixed media on stretched canvas, 84cm x 118cm.
Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Executive Director of UN Women, said: “Racial justice and gender inequality are not separate but integrally linked—and UN Women’s work prioritizes both. Through the global Black Women Programme, and this exhibition that will raise funding for that work, we will support Black women’s movements and organizations in different parts of the world to foster closer ties and give greater power to their voice and actions.”
Works in the exhibition are offered for sale on Artsy, the largest global online art marketplace, from 16 July to 30 July 2021, with the auction ending at 2pm EDT on 30 July 2021. Fifty per cent of the proceeds will go toward launching UN Women’s nascent global Black Women Programme, designed to connect women of African descent in Africa and the Diaspora through comprehensive programming around economic empowerment in the creative industries; connect women’s movements across the Diaspora to strengthen their voices, action, and impact; and address violence against women.
As a deliberate effort to raise awareness of the global gender pay gap and the value of women’s work, the other 50 per cent will go directly to the artist. Furthermore, to protect the artists, buyers will pledge not to sell the work for at least five years; give artists the right of first refusal on resale; and give artists 15 per cent of the sale price if works are sold.
Tonni Ann Brodber, UN Women Caribbean Multi-Country Office Representative, said: “Our ambition for a global programme on race and gender is firmly grounded in the arts. Our office in Barbados has for some time been working with musicians, understanding that their expression and reach are important avenues for changing norms and stereotypes. Creatives, in all their diversity, these are the ones leading the way.”
Erin Jenoa Gilbert, Curator and Art Advisor, added: “Though the abstract and figurative works presented in this exhibition were composed by women of great linguistic and aesthetic diversity, their works are statements of survival and of solidarity. Subversively challenging the status quo, these images symbolically connect the concurrent civil and human rights movements in Africa, the Caribbean, South and Central America, Europe, and the United States. This exhibition simultaneously offers a glimpse into the past and the future as reimagined by women of African descent. The empowered images of women, presented by the artists in this exhibition, evidence the influence of intersectionality and the inextricable ties between women across the African diaspora.”
get out of your own way, Silkscreen print 23 3/5 × 31 1/2 in | 60 × 80 cm 2023
Self-sureness, Mixed media on stretched canvas 33 1/10×46 1/2 in | 84×118 cm2021
The Magazine, Mixed media on canvas 21 7/10 × 29 1/2 in | 55 × 75cm 2021
辛西娅·西法·穆兰加 Cinthia Sifa Mulanga 是位于约翰内斯堡的独立艺术家，1997年生于刚果民主共和国。
穆兰加（Mulanga）最初是作为版画制造商训练的，后来又倾向于绘画和拼贴画。穆兰加（Mulanga）作品的重点是通过调查个人与太空的关系来挑战黑人妇女的代表。太空在穆兰加（Mulanga）的艺术品中有多个层次的工作：一方面，它代表了空间本身。另一方面，它是个人的延伸。该空间体现了人类，变成了独立的主角。就像人类灵魂的不同方面一样，这些多空间就存在，邀请人们在准备就绪时反映并与它们互动。正是在这些有限的时刻，穆兰加强调了黑人妇女身份在当今世界上的复杂性。
她通过绘画、拼贴、摄影和雕塑结合自身经验，表达非洲国内的政治环境，和非洲女性的生存状态。
Cinthia Sifa Mulanga is an independent artist based in Johannesburg. Initially trained as a printmaker, Mulanga later gravitated towards painting and collage. The focus of Mulanga’s oeuvre is to challenge the representation of Black women by investigating the individual’s relationship with space. Space works on multiple levels in Mulanga’s artworks: On the one hand, it represents the space itself; on the other, it is symbolic as an extension of the individual. The space embodies the human, morphing into an independent protagonist. As is the case with different facets of the human soul, these multi-spaces exist in one moment, inviting one to reflect and interact with them when they are ready. It is in these liminal moments that Mulanga highlights the complexities of a Black woman’s identity in today’s world.
