The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s newly reopened Michael C. Rockefeller Wing features a series of short documentaries by Ethiopian American filmmaker Sosena Solomon, commissioned to add contemporary context to the wing’s historical artifacts from Africa, Oceania, and the ancient Americas. Solomon spent two years traveling to 12 sites across sub-Saharan Africa, creating videos that highlight royal burial grounds in Uganda, ancient rock paintings in Botswana, bronze casters in Benin City, and the rock-hewn churches of Lalibela and Tigray in Ethiopia. Three of the videos are displayed on screens in the wing, while others are accessible via QR codes and online.
This project matters because it bridges the gap between historical museum objects and living cultures, offering visitors a contemporary, on-the-ground perspective often missing from traditional museum displays. Curator Alisa LaGamma conceived the videos to challenge homogeneous views of African heritage and to provide a more expansive understanding of the architecture and cultural significance of these sites. By collaborating with the World Monuments Fund and focusing on locations not typically open to tourism, the Met is redefining how ethnographic collections can engage with present-day communities and heritage preservation.