The documentary architecture of African modernism

This project reads the archive as a network rather than as a sequence of isolated authors, movements, nations or masterpieces. Objects are arranged by the work they perform within the historical argument.

Material evidence of connection is treated as primary evidence. Inscriptions, presentation copies, inserted correspondence, theatre programmes, publishing catalogues, conference proceedings, issue sequences and ephemera show how ideas moved, how people recognised one another and how institutions formed.

The public website will not reproduce the entire privately held archive. It will publish approved records and selected images while retaining a larger internal census, provenance record, rights register and acquisition history.