Paths of Blacks Enter the White Land

An exhibition about how the Polish People’s Republic encountered Sub-Saharan Africa: through politics, art and ethnography. The title reverses that of a 1948 painting by Marian Bogusz. It gathers work by artists from Poland and Nigeria, along with graduates of Polish art academies from Ethiopia, Sudan and Kenya - a set of connections pushed to the margins of memory once the political system changed.

Muzeum Sztuki Nowoczesnej on the exhibition:

Paths of Whites Invade the Black Continent is the title of a 1948 painting by Marian Bogusz. In the exhibition title, its meaning is reversed to show the particular dynamic of Polish relations with Blackness and Sub-Saharan Africa during the Polish People’s Republic (PRL) era. After World War II, the imposed socio-political system promoted anti-fascist and anti-imperial slogans, including the condemnation of racism and colonialism. Art, politics, and ethnography mixed, creating a complex web of meanings and interests. At the turn of the 1950s and 1960s, successive African countries declared independence, and the Polish People’s Republic undertook cooperation with these new states, spanning between an ideologized Cold War struggle for influence and genuine interest in the decolonizing continent. Political contacts resulted in an exchange of people and ideas, also influencing the visual culture and artistic environment of the era.

In the exhibition Paths of Blacks Enter the White Land, facts, fantasies, and imaginings form a vibrant, contrast-filled narrative about escaping centrally planned reality, whose political framework simultaneously paved the way for African diasporas in Poland. By juxtaposing works by artists from Poland, Nigeria, and graduates of Polish art academies from countries including Ethiopia, Sudan, and Kenya, we examine past relationships, pushed to the margins of memory with the beginning of systemic transformation.

Jimoh Akolo, Wiesław Antosik, Jakub Barua, Stanisław Barua, Krzysztof M. Bednarski, Marian Bogusz, Bureau of Loose Associations, Max Cegielski, Teodora Dąbrowska, Mustafa Derkaoui, Ali Abdel Ghayoum, Worku Goshu, Barbara Grądzka-Łowkis, Wiktor Gutt, Oskar Hansen, Władysław Hasior, Fayçal Hassairi, C.T. Jasper and Joanna Malinowska, Józef Kaliszan, John Alex Karanja, Abdul Khalik, Leszek Knaflewski, Ewa Kuryluk, Beverly Joan Marcus, Zbigniew Matuszewski, Hyacinthe Mienandi, Jan Morek, Maja ∀. Ngom, Mariella Nitosławska, Bruce Onobrakpeya, Dariusz Panas, Leon Podsiadły, Danuta Rago, Waldemar Raniszewski, Józef Robakowski, Erna Rosenstein, Witold Rozmysłowicz, Zbyszko Siemaszko, Danuta Sienkiewicz, Janek Simon, Jonasz Stern, Władysław Strzemiński, Tadeusz Sumiński, Mariusz Szyperko, Ricardo Torres Ramirez, Hailu Tsigie, Janusz Uklejewski, Roman Wionczek, Paulin Wojtyna

What to expect

The starting point is Marian Bogusz’s 1948 painting “Paths of Whites Invade the Black Continent”; the exhibition flips its meaning. From there it moves through the PRL years, when the imposed post-war system promoted anti-fascist and anti-imperial slogans, including the condemnation of racism and colonialism, and when art, politics and ethnography mixed into a tangled web of meanings and interests.

At the turn of the 1950s and 1960s, one African country after another declared independence, and the Polish People’s Republic entered into cooperation stretched between an ideologized Cold War contest for influence and genuine interest in a decolonizing continent. Those political contacts meant an exchange of people and ideas, and they shaped the visual culture and the artistic scene of the period. Out of facts, fantasies and imaginings the show builds a contrast-filled account of escape from a centrally planned reality - and of how the same politics opened the way for African diasporas in Poland.

Some four dozen artists are shown side by side, from Poland and Nigeria and from Ethiopia, Sudan and Kenya by way of Polish art schools: Bogusz, Oskar Hansen, Władysław Hasior, Erna Rosenstein and Władysław Strzemiński, alongside Bruce Onobrakpeya, Jimoh Akolo, Jakub Barua, Worku Goshu and Janek Simon. On view 26 June 2026 to 10 January 2027.

Tickets, opening hours, and current details are on the Museum of Modern Art website.

Museum profile: Muzeum Sztuki Nowoczesnej.