Unbound City: Zeitz MOCAA Hosts 'One Must Be Seated', an Exhibition by Rita Mawuena Benissan

Zeitz MOCAA presents One Must Be Seated, a solo exhibition by Ghanaian-American artist Rita Mawuena Benissan.

Deeply rooted within her Ghanaian culture, Benissan’s practice has particular focus on the reimagining of the royal umbrella and stool, symbols of Akan chieftaincy through tapestry, sculpture, photography and video. The exhibition explores the enstoolment of a prospective chief, akin to coronation; a call to take their rightful seat in the stool that has been chosen for them.

The exhibition layout simulates the enstoolment tradition with each successive gallery symbolising a stage in the process. Prompted by the new film, One Must Be Seated (2024), from which the exhibition takes its title, you are invited to be nominated and confronted by the ancestors. When the time comes, will you be open to receive the call?

One Must Be Seated forms part of an ongoing series of in-depth, research-based solo exhibitions by Zeitz MOCAA that bring into focus and contextualise the practices of important artists from Africa and the Diaspora, and those whose work focuses on seminal topics in the African present.

Join us on Sunday, 23 February 2025, from 11.00am - 12.00pm for a guided tour of the exhibition by curator Beata America for exclusive insights.