Projects: Ufuoma Essi

The Museum of Modern Art is pleased to announce Projects: Ufuoma Essi, which will highlight the artist’s distinctive approach to film as a medium for historical exploration and cultural memory. On view in the Museum’s free, street-level Projects gallery, the exhibition will feature two of Essi’s recent works shot on Super 8mm film: Bodies In Dissent (2021) and Half Memory (2024).

“In my work I seek to interrogate and disrupt the silences and gaps within historical narratives,” says Ufuoma Essi. “I locate power through the image and the ways in which we can reposition the image of the Black woman, and re-center those lives and experiences.”

“Essi’s practice examines the ways in which institutional archives shape our understanding of the past, often omitting crucial chapters of history,” says Gee Wesley. “In response, she constructs films that draw on personal memory, found footage, and the work of Black feminist writers and performers, expanding the boundaries of what an archive can be.”

The Elaine Dannheisser Projects Series is made possible in part by the Elaine Dannheisser Foundation and The Junior Associates of The Museum of Modern Art.