African cultures: the must-see events of June 2025

An exciting month for Afro-descendant arts

In June 2025, cultural scenes in France, Africa, Europe and as far away as Chicago will be ablaze with creations, tributes and debates around African and Afro-diasporic cultures. Exhibitions, festivals, performances and literary encounters weave a lively and committed network, to be discovered both indoors and outdoors.

Visual arts in the spotlight

Ana Silva in Paris: women as guardians

At Galerie Magnin-A, Angolan artist Ana Silva unveils As guardiãs, a series of works combining embroidery, crinoline and narrative. The exhibition explores the place of women through narratives as dreamlike as they are powerful.

John Madu in Amsterdam: meeting Van Gogh

For the first time, the Musée Van Gogh welcomes an African artist: John Madu. With Paint Your Path, the Nigerian painter creates ten works inspired by the Dutch master, offering a contemporary reinterpretation rooted in West African aesthetics.

Ian Mwesiga in Paris: the rules of perspective overturned

Galerie Mariane Ibrahim presents the paintings of Ugandan artist Ian Mwesiga, a blend of intimate lyricism and classical heritage, in which he explores a fascinating “inner topography”.

Joseph Kojo Hoggar: from Van Eyck to Ghana

Galerie Christophe Person presents Le turban rouge, a series by young Ghanaian artist Joseph Kojo Hoggar, born in 1999, who revisits the great European masters through an African lens.

Festivals and shows: movement and voices

Marseille, Mediterranean capital of creativity

The Marseille Festival (June 12-July 6) resonates with the voices of artists from the shores of the Mediterranean and its diasporas. An open, festive space where struggles and hopes meet.

Montpellier Danse with Nadia Beugré

The Ivorian choreographer presents Epic! (for Yikakou) a vibrant creation in memory of a vanished village and a heritage to be reinterpreted.

Afropolis in Noisiel: dances of identity

On June 7, at La Ferme du Buisson, Qudus Onikeku and The QDance Company host Charivari Afropolis, an event where young people engage in dialogue through movement.

Cinema and memory

Annecy Festival: African shorts in the spotlight

Among the 3,900 films selected, My Brother, My Brother and Blinded by Light explore African realities with originality and intensity.

Diaspora Film Festival in Chicago

From June 13 to 15, ADIFF explores the African diaspora in India with All the World’s a Stage and Rhythm of Dammam. A program that questions the unexpected intersections of history.

Yaoundé laughs with Festico

The International Comedy and Humor Film Festival returns from June 24 to 28, with a focus on comedy as a tool for social transformation.

History, memory and transmission

Haiti, between revolution and knowledge

On June 5 and 6, an international symposium in Paris revisits the Haitian Revolution through an interdisciplinary approach to power, emancipation and memory.

Vichy: Namsa Leuba, portraiture as an exploration of identity

At Portrait(s), the Helvetian-Guinean photographer celebrates the richness of tradition in a pop aesthetic.

Mission Dakar-Djibouti: the counter-inquiry exhibition

At the Musée du Quai Branly until September 14, researchers revisit Griaule’s ethnographic mission (1931-1933), revealing the invisible voices of the colonized.

Koyo Kouoh: a tribute in Dakar

On June 14, Raw Material Company pays tribute to its founder, the visionary curator who passed away in May. A moment of collective emotion and reflection.

Works in dialogue with the intimate and the political

Mohamed El Khatib at the Grand Palais

With Le grand palais de ma mère, the French artist of Moroccan origin explores family and cultural ties, between installations, theater and encounters.

Mathieu Josset: Queen Music through textiles

Aboard the Bateau Phare in Paris, the artist’s monumental 100 m² work pays tribute to Afro-Caribbean cultures through the prism of femininity and freedom.

Kassou Seydou, Elladj Lincy Deloumeaux, Rachel Marsil in Dakar

At Galerie Cécile Fakhoury, the Cour intérieure exhibition presents scenes of life and introspection from a wealth of contemporary African perspectives.

Sharing our heritage

Mucem celebrates Amazigh cultures

Until November 2, the Marseilles museum explores the cultural wealth of the Amazigh world through 150 pieces of art, everyday objects and symbolic ornaments.

Africa Basel: fair and reflection

From June 18 to 22, contemporary African art takes center stage in Basel. The Africa Basel Conversation event invites dialogue between creators, experts and audiences from all over the world.

Conclusion: a month of creation, memory and reinvention

Juin 2025 is set to become a key event on the Afro-descendant cultural scene, a time for celebration, reflection and transmission. From Paris to Dakar, from Yaoundé to Amsterdam, artists take hold of their heritage, reinvent it and share it. A month to listen, see, debate and feel the many faces of contemporary African cultures.