Image © Stéphane Valére (Akekusu)

Image © Stéphane Valére (Akekusu)

Curator, Art Consultant, Founder of Culture Art Society (CAS)

Awa Konaté is a Danish–Ivorian independent curator, art consultant, and founder of Culture Art Society (CAS), a research-led curatorial platform focused on African and Afro-diasporic visual culture through exhibitions, publications, and public programmes.

With a decade of international experience, Konaté has developed a curatorial practice distinguished by its interdisciplinarity and commitment to centring transnational art discourses from the perspective of modern and contemporary artists from Africa and its diaspora. She has worked on projects across Europe, Africa, and the Middle East with both institutional and private stakeholders on acquisitions, commissions, collection strategies, public programmes, and large-scale exhibitions.

Her work centres on archival research, Black feminist pedagogies, and memory work, with a particular focus on lens-based practices, notably photography, cinema, and the moving image. She has curated and consulted on several international exhibitions and public programmes for institutions including the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, Serpentine Galleries, Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Raven Row, and the Barbican, among others.

In addition to her curatorial practice, Konaté has guest lectured at Sotheby’s Institute of Art and The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, and served as a juror for the BlackStar Film Festival, the 14th edition of Rencontres de Bamako (2024), ArtHub Copenhagen’s Residency Programme, and more.

Her writing has been published in Third Text, Foam Magazine, and Phaidon, as well as in publications by the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation, Zeitz MOCAA, the Brooklyn Museum, and Louvre Abu Dhabi, amongst others. Through both her institutional roles and independent work through CAS, Konaté advances knowledge exchange and cultivates global networks of artistic, institutional, and curatorial exchange, particularly from the perspective of the Global South.

Upcoming

  • Forthcoming

  • Encontros da Imagem Portfolio Reviews Award 2026 — Jury Member

    As part of the 2026 edition of the Encontros da Imagem Portfolio Reviews Award, I will be serving on the jury for the in-person review sessions taking place on 8–9 October 2026 in Braga, Portugal, alongside collegaues working across photography, publishing, curating, and contemporary visual culture.

    Organised by Encontros da Imagem, the Portfolio Reviews offer selected photographers the opportunity to present their work through public presentations and individual jury meetings, fostering critical dialogue, feedback, and pathways towards exhibition, publication, and wider professional development within the field of contemporary photography and visual arts.

  • African Art in Venice Forum (AAVF) 2026

    5 May 2026 10:15 – 11:45 am
    Hotel Monaco & Grand Canal, Venice

    As part of this year’s edition of the African Art in Venice Forum (AAVF), I will be participating in the panel “Africa in Minor Keys – Conditions of Visibility”, alongside moderator Ntshepe Tsekere Bopape (Mo Laudi), and fellow speakers Kemang Wa Lehulere, Beya Gille Gacha, and Myles Igwebuike. The conversation forms part of the broader constellation of dialogues surrounding In Minor Keys, the curatorial project developed by Koyo Kouoh.

    The panel will reflect on the conditions under which African and Afro-diasporic artistic practices are seen, framed, and circulated within global contemporary art contexts, engaging questions of visibility, listening, and minoritarian perspectives as generative spaces for rethinking dominant narratives.

    Presented by African Art Dialogues with the National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian.