Okwui Enwezor
Selected Writings
Selected Writings is a landmark two-volume set of writings by the transformational art curator Okwui Enwezor that demonstrates his tireless efforts to decolonize the global contemporary art world. Spanning a quarter-century, these selections reflect the depth and breadth of Enwezor’s writing and its role in his tireless efforts to decolonize the art world. Selected Writings, Volume 1
Selected Writings, Volume 2
Okwui Enwezor Edited by Terry Smith
Okwui Enwezor Edited by Terry Smith
Includes fifteen essays written between 1994 and 2006.
Includes seventeen essays written between 2006 and 2019.
August 2025 72 color illus. 472pp 9781478031529 £32.00 PB DUKE UNIVERSITY PRESS
August 2025 82 color illus. 544pp 9781478031567 £32.00 PB DUKE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Toward a New African Art Discourse
Curating the Postcolonial Condition
“This selection of Okwui Enwezor’s writing offers an intimate look into the beliefs which fueled his practice: that of plurality, fluidity, and openness. It is through these writings that we are able to stay the course of Enwezor’s incomparable vision and insist as he did on an expansive understanding of the world and all those who inhabit it.” Thelma Golden, Director and Chief Curator
Drawn from exhibition catalogs, art journals, interviews with artists, art reviews, curatorial statements, historical studies, and book chapters, these texts show him striving to fulfil the first main ambition that drove his career: to found and sustain what he called a “New African Art Discourse.” Demonstrating that his writing helped fulfill this goal, this collection reaffirms Enwezor’s status as a transformational figure in the global contemporary art world.