When We See Us: A Century of Black Figuration in Painting has been highlighted and acclaimed internationally as one of the most significant exhibitions in contemporary art. 

The exhibition features over 155 works from institutional and private lenders located across 26 countries, bringing together artworks from the past 100 years, created by Black artists worldwide. The exhibition places these works in dialogue with Black thinkers, writers, and poets active today.

When We See Us, originally conceived and organized by Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Zeitz MOCAA), has been internationally acclaimed as one of the most significant exhibitions in the world focusing on Black representation and identity. Zeitz MOCAA is a groundbreaking institution in Cape Town, South Africa, dedicated to promoting and preserving contemporary art from Africa and its diaspora. With a primary focus on painting, the exhibition celebrates how artists from Africa and its diaspora have envisioned, positioned, memorialized and asserted experiences from Africa and of African descent. The exhibition is curated by Koyo Kouoh, who was recently appointed curator of the 2026 Venice Biennale, and co-curated by Tandazani Dhlakama, former Zeitz MOCAA Curator who recently joined Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) as Curator of Global Africa.

”When We See Us har på djupet berört besökare i Kapstaden, Basel och just nu i Bryssel, där den fortsätter att väcka starkt engagemang. Den här utställningen är en djupgående hyllning till svart glädje och frigörelse, förankrad i en curatoriell premiss som modigt avviker från att sätta våld i fokus. Genom att omfamna gestaltningen som en kanon — en form som är både djupt relaterbar och reflekterande — får utställningen människor att se sig själva och sina berättelser. Jag hoppas och tror att Stockholm kommer att välkomna det här narrativet med samma värme och entusiasm och ytterligare bekräfta verkens universella kraft,” säger Koyo Kouoh, curator för When We See Us och Zeitz MOCAAs ledare och chefsintendent.

The exhibition is organized around six themes: The Everyday, Joy and Revelry, Repose, Sensuality, Spirituality, and Triumph and Emancipation. Figurative painting by Black artists has gained a new prominence over the past decade, and this exhibition connects these practices while uncovering deeper historical contexts and networks within a complex and underrepresented genealogy rooted in African and Black modernities.

”When We See Us presenterar en alternativ modernitet och lyfter fram konstnärliga praktiker som historiskt sett har exkluderats från västerländsk konsthistoria. Utställningen erbjuder besökarna en unik möjlighet att uppleva konst som aldrig tidigare visats i Sverige,” säger Joanna Sandell Wright,  chef och konstnärlig ledare för Liljevalchs.

Utställningens titel är inspirerad av Ava DuVernays miniserie When They See Us från 2019. Genom att ersätta ”de” med ”vi” sker ett konceptuellt skifte, vilket placerar samtalet i ett annat perspektiv, med fokus på självskrivande som teoretiserats av den kamerunska statsvetaren och professorn Achille Mbembe. When We See Us belyser relationer mellan konstnärer och konstverk över generationer, likväl överbryggar dess geografiska som konceptuella gränser. Här synliggörs det som Koyo Kouoh beskriver som en “parallell estetik”.

The exhibition features works by artists never before shown in Sweden, including Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Zandile Tshabalala, Jacob Lawrence, Chéri Samba, Danielle McKinney, Ben Enwonwu, Kingsley Sambo, Sungi Mlengeya, Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, Cyprien Tokoudagba, Amy Sherald, and Joy Labinjo, among others. The exhibition is accompanied by a sonic translation created by South African composer and sound artist Neo Muyanga.

A hardcover poetic catalogue, published in conjunction with the exhibition by Thames & Hudson in collaboration with Zeitz MOCAA and edited by Koyo Kouoh, will be available for sale in Liljevalch's shop.The catalogue is comprehensive and richly illustrated with all the works selected for the exhibition and includes a contextual essay by the exhibition's co-curator Tandazani Dhlakama as well as four specially commissioned texts by acclaimed women writers: Ken Bugul (Senegal), Maaza Mengiste (Ethiopia), Robin Coste Lewis (USA) and Bill Kouelany (Congo-Brazzaville).