Art in the Wake III: Resistance, Liberation and Reclamation
Connecting Histories of Resistance Through Memory and Creativity
Cape Town, South Africa — October 8, 2026.
Art in the Wake II: Repairing, Healing and Memory ‘The ship Málaga’ Performance.
Photograph by Saulo Nicolai.
Iziko Museums of South Africa is set to host Art in the Wake III: Resistance, Liberation, and Reclamation, the third symposium in a multi-year partnership between Indigo Arts Alliance and the Center for the Study of Global Slavery at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. The symposium will be held at the Iziko South African National Gallery Annexe in Cape Town, South Africa, on October 17, 2026.
Art in the Wake III will bring together an intergenerational group of students, educators, artists, curators, and community leaders from the United States and South Africa for a day of conversation, workshops, and collective exchange, exploring what happens when art becomes a tool for knowledge and accessibility. At the Slave Lodge, Indigo Arts Alliance and Iziko Museums of South Africa will host an artist and curator conversation exploring how institutions are building curriculum from this history, alongside a youth-led conversation on memory and identity. Hands-on workshops in zine-making, block printing, and cyanotype will invite participants to explore these themes through creative practice and consider how art can offer pathways for resistance and remembrance between institutions and communities. By engaging with a younger community, the symposium demonstrates that art-making serves as a form of connection between generations, and not only those who identify as artists.
Presenters and participants include Iziko Museum’s Art Educator, Rory Emmett; Senior Educator Lindsey Hendricks as well as South African artist Pola Maneli (featured in the exhibition In Slavery’s Wake); Archaeologist Gabrielle Miller; and curator Johanna Obenda will represent NMAAHC. Artist and Indigo Arts Alliance co-founder Daniel Minter, Ashley Page, IAA Studio and Programs Manager alongside youth participants from South Africa and the US diversify the intergenerational perspectives.
A full schedule is below.
Schedule:
| 10:00 – 10:15 am | Morning Session Invocation and/or call of ancestors, action, and collective memories. |
| 10:15 – 10:30 am | Welcome and Introduction |
| 10:30 – 11:30 am: | Curators & Artist Conversation A discussion on art as a tool for knowledge and accessibility with Daniel Minter; Pola Maneli; and Johanna Obenda. |
| 11:40 am – 12:40 pm | Africa Day Youth Panel: “Memory + Identity” Moderated by Rory Emmett and Lindsey Hendricks, youth panelists selected by the Iziko will speak from their own perspectives on the theme of memory and identity. |
| 12:45 – 1:15 pm | Lunch & Conversation |
| 1:30 – 3:30 pm | Creative Breakout Sessions Zine Making: Led by Pola Maneli with support and collaboration from Rory Emmett. Block Printing: Led by Daniel Minter and Ashley Page. Workshop 3: Cyanotype Workshop: Led by Lindsey Hendricks. |
| 4:00- 4:30 pm | Reconvene + Closing Remarks |
Building on the past two iterations of Art in the Wake – held in Portland, ME, and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – that centered on reckoning with the histories of slavery, colonialism and exploring the possibilities of repair, the third symposium focuses on connecting histories of resistance to the present through a youth-centered exploration of memory, creativity, and reclamation. Engaging with South Africa’s past helps to create a space where history, art, and lived experience meet.
The symposium series accompanies the traveling exhibition In Slavery’s Wake: Making Black Freedom in the World, which illuminates the history and legacies of slavery and colonialism while simultaneously inspiring visions of liberation and renewal. Featured artists Daniel Minter and Pola Maneli extend those themes through painting, sculpture, assemblage and zines to use art-making as a way to explore identity, reclamation, and young people’s own narratives. Future iterations will travel to Senegal and Liverpool, examining complexities across global, diasporic viewpoints.
About Indigo Arts Alliance
Indigo Arts Alliance is an arts incubator in Portland, Maine, with a mission to connect Black and Brown artists from around the world with Maine’s artists of African descent through a multidisciplinary artist-in-residency program that embodies a Black-led approach to creativity, community-building, and mentoring. A place where freedom of expression and personal transformation through creativity is encouraged, Indigo Arts Alliance is rooted in two principles: that art is a key resource for healthy human communities that should be cultivated and celebrated; and that artists play a unique role in strengthening our multiracial democracy.
Visit www.indigoartsalliance.me to learn more and support their work.
About the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
Since opening Sept. 24, 2016, the National Museum of African American History and Culture has welcomed 14 million in-person visitors and millions more through its digital presence. Occupying a prominent location next to the Washington Monument on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., the nearly 400,000-square-foot museum is the nation’s largest and most comprehensive cultural destination devoted exclusively to exploring, documenting and showcasing the African American story and its impact on American and world history. The museum has also launched and is continually expanding its reach with the Searchable Museum portal and other efforts to bring African American history into the world’s hands and homes. For more information about the museum, visit nmaahc.si.edu.
About the Iziko Museums of South Africa (Iziko)
Iziko operates 11 national museums, the Planetarium and Digital Dome, the Social History Centre and three collection specific libraries in Cape Town. The museums that make up Iziko have their own history and character, presenting extensive art, social and natural history collections that reflect our diverse African heritage. Iziko is a public entity and public benefit organisation that brings together these museums under a single governance and leadership structure. The organisation allows *free access to all individuals on commemorative days, (*excluding the Castle of Good Hope, Groot Constantia and Planetarium and Digital Dome).
Visit our webpage at www.iziko.org.za, join our online community on Facebook (www.facebook.com/IzikoMuseums), Instagram (@izikomuseumssa) or follow us on X (@Iziko_Museums) for regular updates on events, news and new exhibitions.
For images, further background, or interviews, please contact:
Katrina Stewart
Account Manager, Visual Arts
Blue Medium
T: +1-212-675-1800
katrina@bluemedium.com
Melody Kleinsmith
Marketing and Communications
Iziko Museums of South Africa
Tel: 021 481 3858
Email: mkleinsmith@iziko.org.za or mediaofficer@iziko.org.za