Simon Njami (born 1962 in Lausanne) is a writer and an independent curator, lecturer, art critic and essayist.
Career Writing Njami published his first novel, Cercueil et Cie, in 1985, followed by Les Enfants de la Cité in 1987, and Les Clandestins and African Gigolo in 1989. He has written biographies of James Baldwin and Léopold Sédar Senghor, several short texts, scripts for cinema, and documentary films.
Njami is the co-founder of Revue Noire,Annalisa Quinn (6 March 2018), After a Promise to Return African Artifacts, France Moves Toward a Plan New York Times. a journal of contemporary African and extra-occidental art, and he was visiting professor at the University of California, San Diego.
Curator After conceiving the Ethnicolor Festival in Paris in 1987, Njami curated many international exhibitions being among the first ones to think and show African contemporary artists work on international stages. He has served as artistic director of Bamako Encounters, the African Photography Biennale, from 2001 to 2007.James Estrin (6 December 2018), In Ethiopia, Visual Storytelling From a Deeper Perspective New York Times.Saskia de Rothschild (2 November 2015), African Biennale of Photography Returns to Mali Amid Unrest New York Times. Njami is the curator of Africa Remix, shown in Düsseldorf (Museum Kunstpalast), London (Hayward Gallery), Paris (Centre Pompidou), Tokyo (Mori Museum), Stockholm (Moderna Museet) and Johannesburg (Johannesburg Art Gallery), from 2004 to 2007. He co-curated the first African Pavilion at the 52nd Venice Biennale. He curated the first African Art Fair, held in Johannesburg in 2008, and was the artistic director of Luanda Triennale (2010), Picha (Lubumbashi Biennale – 2010),Siddhartha Mitter (13 December 2019), On the Frontier, the Lubumbashi Biennial Makes Art From Obstacles New York Times. SUD (Douala Triennale – 2010), among others exhibitions and international art events.
Njami's exhibition The Divine Comedy – Heaven, Hell, Purgatory by Contemporary African Artists was shown at MMK (Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt am Main) in 2014, SCAD Museum of Art in 2015 and at the Smithsonian Institution/National Museum of African Art, Washington, DC, in 2015.
Njami was the artistic director of the Edition 12 of Dak'art, the Dakar Biennale, in Senegal in 2016Kelly Crow (15 May 2016), The New Face of African Art Wall Street Journal.Ginanne Brownell (20 October 2021), Putting West African Art in a Global Spotlight New York Times. and the Edition 13 of the Dakar Biennale in 2017. He curated Afriques Capitales in La Villette (Paris) and Gare Saint-Sauveur (Lille), in France, in 2017.
Njami is currently directing AtWork, an itinerant and digital project with Lettera27 Foundation, in partnership with Moleskine, as well as the Pan African Master Classes in Photography, a project that he conceived with the Goethe Institute.
Njami is the Art Adviser of the Sindika Dokolo Foundation (Luanda) and the artistic director of the Donwahi Foundation (Abidjan) and member of the scientific boards of numerous museums.
Jury work After having been invited to be part of numerous art and photography juries, such as the World Press Photo contest, Njami served on the judging panels that chose Lawrence Abu Hamdan for the Edvard Munch Art Award in 2019Alex Greenberger (9 December 2019), After Sharing Turner Prize Win, Lawrence Abu Hamdan Takes Another Top Art Award ARTnews. and Ashfika Rahman for the Future Generation Art Prize in 2023.George Nelson (31 October 2024), Ashfika Rahman Wins PinchukArtCentre’s $100,000 Future Art Prize ARTnews. In 2023, he was briefly part of the six-person search committee for an artistic director of Documenta’s 2027 edition but resigned shortly after.Alex Greenberger (30 March 2023), Documenta Kicks Off Search for Artistic Director of 2027 Edition ARTnews.
Publications by Njami Cercueil et Cie, novel, Paris: Lieu Commun, 1985 Les Enfants de la Cité, novel, Paris: Gallimard, Folio Junior, 1987 African Gigolo, novel, Paris: Seghers, 1989 Les Clandestins, novel, Paris: Gallimard, Folio Junior, 1989 James Baldwin ou le devoir de violence, biography, Paris: Seghers, 1991 C'était Senghor, biography, Paris: Fayard, 2006 La Mécanique des souvenirs, Paris: JC Lattès, 2024
Exhibitions (selected) "I've been abducted hundreds of times", a solo show by Gosha Ostretsov, curated by Simon Njami, Venice Biennale, Palazzo Nani Bernardo, May–June, 2017. Afriques Capitales, La Villette, Paris, and Gare Saint-Sauveur, Lille, France, March - September, 2017. The City in the Blue Daylight, Dak'art, The Dakar Biennale, 2 May - 3 June 2016 Santu Mofokeng, Mets Solo, Fondazione Fotografia Modena, March 2016 Something Else, Off Biennale Cairo, 2015 Après Eden, Maison Rouge, Paris, 2015 Xenopolis, Deutsche Bank KunstHalle, Berlin, 2015 The Divine Comedy: Heaven, Purgatory and Hell Revisited by Contemporary African Artists, MMK (Museum für Moderne Kunst), Frankfurt am Main, 2014 - SCAD Museum, Savannah, USA, 2014-2015 - Smithsonian Institution/ African Art Museum, Washington, 2015 WIR SIND ALLE BERLINER: 1884–2014, SAVVY Contemporary, Berlin, Germany, 15 November 2014 – 28 February 2015 Portrait of Marrakech, Magnum Photos and Marrakech Museum for Photography and Visual Art (MMP+), 2013 Art at Work, co-produced by the Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, co-curator with David Adjaye, Kampala, Ouganda, 2012. Dokolo/Revue Noire Collection, Bamako encounters, 2011 Moataz Nasr, Chain reaction, Chateau de Blandy, France, 2011 Art at Work, co-produced by the Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, co-curator with David Adjaye, Ouagadougou, Addis Ababa, 2010 A Collective Diary, Herzilya Museum, Israel, 2010 Fiction#3, Bili Bidjocka, Abbaye de Maubuisson, France, May 2010 A useful dream, Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, June 2010 As you like it (First African contemporary art fair), Johannesburg, March 2008 Artistic director of the Luanda Triennale, sept/dec 2010 Artistic Director of Picha (Lubumbabshi biennale), Oct 2010 Artistic director of SUD (Douala triennale), dec 2010 Ordinary pain, Noorderlicht festival Groningen, September 2009 Made in Africa, The Dokolo Collection, National Museum, Nairobi, 2009 Beyond the Desert, Darb 1718, Cairo, 2009 Co-curator of the First African Pavilion at the 52e Venice Biennale, 2007 The Invention of memory, Réunion Island, September 2007 Chief curator of the VIIe Rencontres de Bamako, November 2007 L'image révélée, Tunis, 2006 Cities scape, ARCO 2006 Chief curator of les Rencontres africaines de la Photographie, Bamako, 2005 Africa Remix, Düsseldorf, Londres, Paris, Tokyo, Stockholm, Johannesburg, 2004/2007 Un prisme lucide – photographies, Biennale de São Paulo, São Paulo, 2004 Chief curator of les Rencontres africaines de la Photographie, Bamako, 2003 Up and Coming, ARCO, Madrid, 2003 Co-commissaire de Next Flag, Bruxelles, Zürich, 2002 Chief curator of les Rencontres africaines de la Photographie, Bamako, 2001 Le temps de l'Afrique, Las Palmas, 2000, Madrid, 2001 Biennale d'Art contemporain de Dakar (co-curator), Dakar, mai 2000 L'Afrique par elle-même, photographies (co-curator), Paris, São Paulo, Londres, Bamako, Washington, Berlin, Cape Town, 1998/1999 Traces of Identity, photographies, Toronto, 1997 Suites Africaines (co-curator), Couvent des Cordeliers, Paris, 1997 Die Andere Reise, Vienne, 1996 Otro Pais, Las Palmas, Palma de Majorque, Barcelone, 1995 Paris Connection, Paris/San Francisco, 1991 Ethnicolor, Paris, 1987
Texts and co-editions (selection) Ethnicolor, edited with Bruno Tilliette, Autrement, Paris, 1987 "El Anatsui, un artiste sur le fil de l'histoire", in El Anatsui, A Sculpted History of Africa, October Gallery, Saffron Books, London, 1998 Remembrance of things Past, Ten years of debate about African Contemporary Art, Tobu Museum of Art, 1998 Co-editor and co-author of Rotimi Fani-Kayodé et Alex Hirst, Photographs, Revue Noire/Autograph, Paris/Londres, 1996 Co-editor of Pierre Verger, Le Messager, photographies, Revue Noire, Paris 1993, DAP, New York, 1996 Co-editor and co-author of the Anthology of African Photography, Revue Noire, Paris, 1997, DAP, New York, 1999 "L'invention de la vie", in Peut-on être vivant en Afrique, Presses Universitaires de France, 2000 "Der Kurator als Nackter König, Kontextualisierung und Dekontextualisierung", in the catalogue South meets West, Kunsthalle Bern, 2000 "Les Spores de l'étamine", in the catalogue of the exhibition Afriques, Barcelona, 2001 "Chroniques d'un millénaire / Chronicles of a Millennium", introduction au catalogue des IVè Rencontres de la Photographie Africaine de Bamako, Eric Koehler, Paris, 2001 Pascale Marthine Tayou, Between himself and the Other, with Pierre-Olivier Rollin, text for the documenta 11, published by the Communauté Wallonie-Bruxelles, 2002 Das doppelte glück der sanftmut und der bitterkeit, in the catalogue of Africa Apart, NGBK, Berlin, 2002 A certain View of Mankind, for the exhibition Portraits of Pride, Samuel Fosso, Seydou Keita, Malick Sidibé, Moderna Museet Stockholm, Raster Forlag, 2002 Cronicas del hijo de un siglo, Espacio C, Camargo, 2002 El Corazon de las luces, in Planeta Kurtz, Random House Mondadori, Barcelona, 2002 Jane Alexander, A Turbulent Silence, introduction to the catalogue of Daimler Chrysler Award, Hatje Cantz, 2002 Co-curator and co-author of BLINK, photographies, Phaidon Press, London, 2002 Co-editor and co-author of the Antholoy of XXth Century African Art, Revue Noire, Paris, 2001, DAP, New York, 2002 Lettre à une jeune fille, in Babylon Babies – Marie-Jo Lafontaine, Hatje Cantz, 2003 Memory in the Skin, Looking both Ways catalogue, Museum for African Art, New York, Snoeck, Gent, 2003 Mozart and Me, Fernando Alvim – the Psychoanalysis of the World, Ingrid Mwangi, 2003 The End of the Empire, catalogue de l'exposition Happiness, Mori Art Museum, Tankosha Publishing Co, Kyoto/Tokyo, 2003 Le mystère révélé/ The Mystery revealed, introduction au catalogue des V Rencontres de la Photographie Africaine de Bamako, Eric Koehler, Paris, 2003 Zineb Sedira, An Assumed Autobiography, Corner House, London, 2004 A Young Woman in Quest, the work of Loulou Cherinet, catalogue Biennale de Sydney, 2004 Chaos et Métamorphose, introduction à l’exposition Africa Remix, Hatje Cantz, 2004 Claude Rosticher : la poésie à l’œuvre, Monaco, 2004 Editor of L’Afrique en regards, une brève histoire de la photographie, Filigranes, Paris, 2005 Amal Kenawy, catalogue de la Biennale de Sydney, 2005 L'image révélée, catalogue of exhibition, 2006 Introduction to Youssef Nabil's works (catalogue), 2007 Introduction to Ghada Amer's works, 2007 Introduction to Moataz Nasr's works (catalogue), 2008 Introduction de Andrew Tshabangu's works (monograph), 2008 Introduction to Ingrid Mwangi's works (catalogue), 2008 The constant Gardner, an introduction to Mechac Gaba's work, 2009 Un mystère à conserver (on the French photographer Laurence Leblanc..), 2009 Une illusion sophistiquée (on the Ethiopian photographer Aida Muluneh), 2009 Street Urchin, works by Kiluanji Kia Henda, Steidl, Germany, 2010 Dorian Gray in Bangui, works by Samuel Fosso, La Fabrica/Revue Noire Publishers, France, Spain, 2010 Me and Ms A., Exhibition book of Jane Alexander's works, 2010 Yinka Shonibare, MBE : le masque transparent, Exhibition book of Yinka Shonibare's Works, Nouveau Musée National de Monaco, 5 Continents, 2010 Editor of the artist's book, Moataz Nasr, The other Side of the Mirror, Gliori publishers, 2010 Samuel Fosso, a dandy in Bangui, Revue Noire/La Fabrica, 2011 The Impudence of the Stars, in Light Years, an exhibition of the Spanish artist Eugènia Balcells, Edicions de l'Eixample, Barcelona, 2012 The Re-enchantment of the World, an introduction to the work of the Congolese artist Pume, Revue Noire, Paris, 2012 Stabat Mater, an introduction to the work of the Haitian artist Mario Benjamin, Revue Noire, Paris, 2012 Fictional Faculties, IUAV, University of Venice, Venice, 2012