The Harn Museum of Art came alive on the evening of February 13 with the vibrant sights and sounds of Museum Nights: Arts Across Africa—an annual celebration honoring African creativity through music, dance, fashion, and scholarship. 
Drawing crowds from across campus and the Gainesville community, the event ran from 6 to 9 p.m. and invited guests to explore diverse interpretations of African culture and identity.
A highlight feature of the evening was the African student gallery talks engaging presentations that linked personal experience and academic research with the museum’s African art collections. Students Alex Awuku, Samuel Aye-Gboyin, and Mohammed Umar were the presenters of such discussions in the Contemporary Gallery, sharing insights relating to pieces of art such as Positive Fear, Old Man’s Cloth, and Dream Weaver. The remarks provided viewers with a fresh understanding of matters concerning migration, change, and memory culture.
In the Ghana Fashion Exhibit, students Sharon Mburu, Selome Medemaku, Ebenezer Mensah, and Benedicta Opoku-Mensah, brought to the forefront the importance of artifacts such as the Women’s Wrapper and Female Figure, challenging viewers to consider how fashion speaks to narratives of lineage, resistance, and imagined futures. This activation of the Ghanaian Fashion exhibition gave visitors a unique opportunity to engage with history and beauty through both lived and scholarly knowledge.
The night continued with a sequence of performances occurring throughout the different locales. Dancers Rujeko Dumbutshena, and Christa “Fatou” Sylla filled the galleries with movement and spirit, and live music by Aboubacar Camara, and the Abedegi Orchestra energized the viewers with their beats and harmonies. Special musical collaborations with Wester and Djo Bi opened the event and later returned for a lively final set within the rotunda.
The final act encouraged the crowd to stand up as one for a celebratory Bantaba Party, a custom that invited all participants to dance and make merry—meaning community, openness, and a shared experience.
Arts Across Africa provided a special environment for students to combine their identity, inquiry, and imagination with the public, causing African art to be more than a visual experience but one that promotes interaction. This event, co-sponsored with the Harn Museum of Art and the Center for African Studies, provided an evening of expression, reconnection, and affirmation of culture.
Event Photos: Taken by Shane Barrera