The Shape of Things to Come, curated by Dexter Wimberly, and running from 11 October 2025 to 10 January 2026 at Efie Gallery, Dubai, brings together six internationally acclaimed artists—El Anatsui, Yinka Shonibare, Abdoulaye Konaté, Iman Issa, Adam Pendleton, and Carrie Mae Weems—whose works probe transformation, resilience, and the reimagining of identity across geographies and generations. The exhibition situates African and diasporic voices at the center of global cultural discourse, using material innovation and conceptual depth to explore how art reflects and shapes the world we inhabit.
Africans Column had the privilege to speak with Kwame Mintah, Co-founder and Director of Efie Gallery; Dexter Wimberly, Curator of the exhibition; and Abdoulaye Konaté, the Malian artist whose monumental textile work Resistance (2025) serves as a focal point of the show. Together, they share the ideas, philosophies, and creative energies behind The Shape of Things to Come. Their insights reveal a collective vision: that art is not just a mirror to society, but a force actively shaping the future.
What follows is an in-depth three-way interview that explores how the exhibition broadens the language of contemporary African art, redefines belonging, and positions African creativity within a global dialogue.
The Exhibition’s Core Vision and Mission
The conversation begins by addressing how the exhibition embodies Efie Gallery’s mission to represent and advance artists of African origin, and the message that vision sends to the global art community.
Kwame Mintah responds: “At its essence, Efie Gallery has always sought to expand the ways in which audiences engage with art from Africa and its diaspora, while challenging the narrow definitions that have too often constrained it. The Shape of Things to Come embodies this mission by drawing together artists whose practices reflect the richness of Africa’s histories and diasporas, situating them firmly within the centre of global cultural discourse.
Too often, ‘contemporary African art’ has been reduced to limiting notions, framed by aesthetic stereotypes or confined to geographic essentialism. This exhibition confronts those reductive views directly. By presenting West African pioneers such as El Anatsui, Yinka Shonibare and Abdoulaye Konaté alongside trailblazing African American figures like Carrie Mae Weems and Adam Pendleton, as well as the incisive conceptual practice of North African artist Iman Issa, the exhibition underscores the profound cultural, aesthetic and geographical breadth of artistic expression today. In doing so, it affirms that ‘contemporary African art’ is not a singular category but a constellation of perspectives, complex, resilient and globally resonant. The message is clear: voices, whether rooted in Accra, Bamako, Cairo, London or New York, are not peripheral to contemporary culture, but central to its most urgent conversations.”
Curator Dexter Wimberly expands on the power of the exhibition title, The Shape of Things to Come, and how it signifies human agency in the context of today’s global changes.
Dexter Wimberly explains: “The title emerged from a fundamental belief in human agency—the conviction that we actively shape our future rather than passively await predetermined outcomes. This serves as a direct counterpoint to fatalistic thinking, particularly vital in our current moment of profound uncertainty. When we look at the political upheavals, environmental crises, and cultural transformations happening globally, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed or powerless. But this exhibition asserts that tomorrow is sculpted through our conscious decisions and deliberate actions taken today.
Within the realm of visual art, this philosophy finds profound expression in the creative process itself… These six internationally acclaimed practitioners don’t merely document change; they actively participate in shaping it, using their creative voices to challenge existing narratives, propose new possibilities, and inspire viewers to reimagine what lies ahead.”
Materiality, Dialogue, and Legacy
The discussion turns to the six artists selected—El Anatsui, Iman Issa, Abdoulaye Konaté, Adam Pendleton, Yinka Shonibare, and Carrie Mae Weems—and the dialogue that emerges between them through their use of unconventional materials and layered narratives.
Dexter Wimberly notes: “These artists traverse media, geographies, and histories, yet their practices converge in a shared insistence on art’s philosophical and emotional potential. What connects them is how they use form, color, and material to unlock deeper truths and foster personal resonance… The dialogue I hope emerges is one that registers today’s turbulence and shifting cultural narratives while affirming art’s enduring capacity to inspire reflection, resistance, and renewal… Together, they highlight art’s dual role as witness and catalyst, offering visual interventions that prompt us to reimagine the future.”
The choice of nontraditional materials—bottle caps, Dutch wax fabrics, and monumental textiles—reflects themes of sustainability and cultural heritage, a central point of the exhibition.
Dexter Wimberly states: “The materiality of these works is absolutely central to their meaning. El Anatsui transforms humble, discarded objects—liquor bottle caps, printing plates, cassava graters—into vast, tapestry-like works. His constructions embody themes of cultural heritage, environmental sustainability, and global interconnectedness… Abdoulaye Konaté’s monumental textile-based installations… are deeply rooted in West African traditions where textiles function as carriers of communication… These material choices aren’t simply aesthetic—they’re political statements about value, waste, cultural exchange, and sustainability. They challenge hierarchies between ‘high’ and ‘low’ materials, between Western and non-Western artistic traditions, and they ask us to reconsider what we discard and what we preserve.”
Artist Abdoulaye Konaté shared the narrative behind his monumental textile work, Resistance (2025), which grounds the exhibition’s themes in Malian tradition and history.
Abdoulaye Konaté explains: “Resistance is a large nine-meter textile work made with Malian cotton that pays homage to the resilience of women. Figures break free from the tapestry, symbolizing release from constraint and the assertion of agency. In creating this work, I drew on the aesthetic richness of African design… The gradation of colour, shifting from deep shadow to luminous light, evokes cycles of endurance and renewal. Through Resistance, I wanted to bring tradition and modernity into dialogue, to show how textiles can be vessels of strength, emancipation and cultural affirmation. In this sense, the work reflects both struggle and triumph, while grounding itself in the profound cultural foundations of Mali and the wider African continent.”
Konaté further discusses how color and textile are central to his practice in balancing global concerns with intimate heritage: “There are certain aspects of my work which I hope will attract the viewer and establish a flow of positive energy between the work and the public: 1. The intensity and singularity of the work’s presence, regardless of its scale. 2. The depth of artistic, aesthetic, and thematic research underlying each piece. 3. The search for the spiritual, expressed through its relationship to nature.”
Looking at the broader artistic conversation, the curator explains how Adam Pendleton’s Black Dada series pushes abstraction to engage with questions of identity and fragmentation:
Dexter Wimberly details: “His concept of Black Dada, a term he coined, describes a visual and cultural language that merges the radical experimentation of the Dada movement with the politics of Black representation. This is profoundly important work that expands conversations about race, abstraction, and cultural production… What excites me about Pendleton’s practice is how it refuses easy categorization. The fragmentation you see in his work—both visual and textual—mirrors the fragmentation of modern life, of identity formation in a world of competing narratives.”
The work of Carrie Mae Weems, created three decades ago, also provides a historical anchor for the show.
Dexter Wimberly notes: “Weems’ 1993 Africa series remains remarkably prescient… she examines how gender and power are encoded in built environments while documenting the enduring legacies of the transatlantic slave trade… What makes these works so relevant today is their refusal of simplistic narratives… Her contribution to this exhibition provides a historical anchor—a reminder that the conversations about cultural identity, colonial legacies, and authentic connection that feel so urgent today have deep roots.”
Global Context and The Meaning of “Home”
The conversation shifts to the exhibition’s physical context, starting with the gallery’s relocation to Alserkal Avenue, a move that marks a critical milestone for Efie Gallery.
Kwame Mintah states: “The relocation to Alserkal Avenue represents a pivotal chapter in Efie Gallery’s evolution, not only geographically but also in terms of artistic possibility. The scale and architectural openness of our new space allows us to honour the ambition of large-scale, material-driven works in ways that were previously unimaginable… Our new space offers precisely this: soaring walls, uninterrupted sightlines and the spatial generosity to stage these works with the dignity and resonance they deserve. In many ways, the space becomes an active collaborator in the storytelling, transforming exhibitions into experiences that are both contemplative and monumental.”
Mintah also explains how the gallery, whose name Efie is the Twi word for “home,” creates a sense of belonging for diverse global voices.
Kwame Mintah shares: “For us, ‘home’ is both a literal and metaphorical anchor. We use the word to speak to universal notions of belonging, how culture, history and identity shape the ways communities define home across the world… Our decision to establish ourselves in Dubai was strategic: the UAE stands at a unique cultural crossroads, bridging Africa and its diaspora, the Middle East and the Global South. There’s an openness here, a hunger for new narratives, and a willingness to engage with art that challenges conventional perspectives. In The Shape of Things to Come, we wanted to create that same openness through an environment where diverse global voices don’t just coexist, but converse with and enrich each other.”
Curator Dexter Wimberly emphasizes how Dubai’s position as a global crossroads makes it an ideal setting for this conversation, particularly in relation to works that reinterpret historical artifacts and symbols of hybridity.
Dexter Wimberly says: “Dubai’s position as a global crossroads makes it an ideal setting for this conversation. Both Shonibare and Issa work with the instability of historical narratives and the constructed nature of cultural identity—themes that resonate powerfully in a city where diverse cultures converge and where rapid transformation is the norm… For Dubai audiences, these works offer a mirror and a provocation. In a place where identity is already hybrid, where colonial histories intersect with contemporary global capital, these artists ask: Who gets to tell these stories? What gets preserved and what gets forgotten?”
Konaté acknowledges the strategic importance of the location: “Dubai, with its deep roots in the Arab world, has embraced the idea of opening itself to other cultures. Efie Gallery offers artists from the African continent a unique platform to be present in this city, which has evolved into not only a commercial hub, but also an increasingly vital cultural crossroads.”
Impact and The Shape of Future Projects
Looking ahead, we asked Kwame Mintah how Efie Gallery’s multi-disciplinary support for artists, including music-focused projects like Rekord Gallery, complements the exhibition’s themes of transformation and resilience.
Kwame Mintah notes: “From the beginning, Efie Gallery was envisioned as more than a traditional gallery and as a space of exchange, collaboration and transformation. The Rekord Gallery reflects this hybrid identity by integrating visual art with music, literature and film. This multidisciplinary approach mirrors the themes of The Shape of Things to Come, which foreground resilience, adaptability and the reimagining of cultural narratives.”
Finally, we asked the curator what impact he hopes this exhibition leaves on visitors, and how it might shape his future curatorial work.
Dexter Wimberly concludes: “I hope visitors leave with a renewed sense of agency and possibility. In an era of profound uncertainty, this exhibition challenges viewers to reflect on the present while imagining the possibilities of what lies ahead… By cultivating both introspection and connection, The Shape of Things to Come affirms art’s enduring relevance and its power to shape cultural and social narratives. I want people to see that transformation—whether personal, cultural, or political—doesn’t just happen to us. We participate in it. Every choice we make, every narrative we challenge, every alternative vision we embrace contributes to shaping what comes next. For my future curatorial projects, this exhibition reinforces my commitment to presenting artists whose work doesn’t simply respond to change but actively participates in creating it.”
Conclusion
The Shape of Things to Come stands as both a reflection and a forecast—a vision of where art from Africa and its diaspora is heading and how it continues to redefine global culture. Through the voices of Kwame Mintah, Dexter Wimberly, and Abdoulaye Konaté, the exhibition emerges as a vital dialogue between continents, histories, and futures. It celebrates art’s transformative capacity to connect people, confront legacies, and illuminate the infinite possibilities of what lies ahead.
