Curated by Brazilian curator and scholar Hélio Menezes and drawn from the holdings of the Jorge M. Pérez Collection and El Espacio 23  in Miami, Améfrica brings together 128 works by 99 artists, examining the global influence of the African diaspora across generations and geographies, as well as the deep cultural and historical ties that connect them. “Rather than focusing on national or regional categories, the exhibition highlights resonances between artists through shared references, related artistic practices, mutual inspirations, and generational transmissions”, explains Menezes. “These connections link the shores of the Atlantic in ways that are sometimes clearly visible and at other times more subtle, revealing a vibrant network of diasporic exchange.”

El Gotaibi presents From the Desert (2025), a workforming part of Perspective of Seduction, a solo exhibition where he draws upon the mountain and desert landscapes as living symbols of endurance and renewal. Two photographs from Mntambo’s 2008 Praça de Touros series, one that reflects on inherited rituals, colonial histories, and the ways gendered bodies are disciplined, displayed, and made to endure within public arenas. Mam’uMiriam Makeba, Guinea, South Africa (2025) by ceramicist Poswa pays homage to both the cultural artistry of the Fulani people and the iconic South African singer and activist, Miriam Makeba, and forms part of her ongoing Magodi series.

The title of the exhibition draws inspiration from the concept of Améfrica, developed by Afro-Brazilian intellectual Lélia Gonzalez (1935–1994). A philosopher, activist, and one of the most important thinkers of Black feminism in Brazil, Gonzalez’s work examined the intersections of race, gender, and class while emphasising the significant African foundations of the cultural and social formation of the Americas. By renaming the Americas with an “f” that incorporates Africa, Gonzalez proposed more than a new word - she introduced a relational, political, and aesthetic framework that reimagines how belonging, ancestry, and creativity are understood across the Atlantic world.

“The exhibition emerged from research into the works included in the collection of Jorge M. Pérez”, continues Menezes.“By examining the relationships between these works - formal, thematic, and contextual - it becomes possible to see how the idea of Amefricanity remains deeply relevant today. The works in the exhibition reveal a vast territory in which national borders become less significant than the cultural, political, economic, and symbolic connections that link Afro-Atlantic spaces and communities.”

The presentation unfolds across five chapters inspired by Gonzalez’s ideas: Adaptation, Resistance, Reinterpretation, Creation of New Forms, and Amefricanas.

Text inspired by the curatorial essay by Hélio Menezes.