Exhibition explores African design as agent of change

ATLANTA – An exhibition opening in Atlanta encourages visitors to look at Africa through new eyes.

“Making Africa: A Continent of Contemporary Design” opens Saturday at Atlanta’s High Museum of Art. It delves into the continent’s diversity and vibrancy through more than 200 works by more than 120 artists from 22 countries.

High Museum curator of African art Carol Thompson says Africa is too often associated with problems like hunger or corruption. She says the exhibition invites visitors to abandon their preconceived notions and explore the creative efforts of people using design to bring about change on the vast continent.

The runs through Jan. 7 at the High. It is then scheduled to travel to the Albuquerque Museum in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and the Blanton Museum of Art in Austin, Texas.