Koyo Kouoh, the esteemed Cameroonian-born curator and director of the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Zeitz MOCAA) in Cape Town, South Africa, has passed away at the age of 58.
Her death was confirmed by Zeitz MOCAA on May 10, 2025, though the cause was not immediately disclosed. She had been diagnosed with cancer and died in a Swiss hospital .
Kouoh was appointed in December 2024 to curate the 2026 Venice Art Biennale, making history as the first African woman to hold this role .
She was deeply engaged in developing the exhibition’s vision and themes, with the unveiling of the title and theme scheduled for May 20, 2025. Her sudden passing has left a significant void in the global art community.
Born in Douala, Cameroon, in 1967, Kouoh was a pivotal figure in contemporary African art. She served as the founding artistic director of RAW Material Company in Dakar, Senegal, and held curatorial roles at major international events such as Documenta 12 and 13.
At Zeitz MOCAA, she curated the landmark exhibition “When We See Us: A Century of Black Figuration in Painting” in 2022 .
Kouoh’s work was characterized by a commitment to Pan-Africanism and a focus on promoting African voices in the global art scene.
Her passing is a profound loss to the art world, and she is remembered for her intellectual rigor, vision, and dedication to fostering a more inclusive and diverse art community.
She gave birth to her son in Switzerland during the 90s, an experience she described as “profoundly transformative”. She would go on to adopt three other children.
Fed up with life in the Swiss city of Zurich, Kouoh returned to Africa in 1996.
She worked as a curator in Senegalese capital city Dakar, before founding Raw Material Company, an expansive, independent art hub.
Just last week, and six years into her role as the director of South Africa’s Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa, Kouoh reflected on her love for Dakar.
“Dakar made me who I am today,” she told the Financial Times.
“It’s the place I came of age professionally, where I really became a curator and an exhibition-maker… I’m in Cape Town now but, mentally, I live in Dakar. It’s the one and only place for me.”
When Kouoh took the top job at Zeitz, Africa’s biggest contemporary art museum, the institution was in crisis.
Founding director Mark Coetzee had been suspended in 2018 following allegations of staff harrasment and later resigned.
Kouoh has been widely credited with turning Zeitz’s fortunes around, leading it through the scandal, as well as the Covid pandemic.
“For me, it became a duty to salvage this institution,” she told The Art World: What If…?! podcast.
“I was convinced that the failure of Zeitz, if it had failed would’ve been the failure of all of us African art professionals in the field, somehow indirectly.”
As Zeitz’s director and curator, Kouoh oversaw a number of acclaimed exhibitions, including When We See Us: A Century of Black Figuration in Painting. The show, which brings together works by black artists from the last century, is currently on display in Brussels.
In a statement announcing Kouoh’s “sudden” death, Zeitz expressed its “profound sorrow” and said that, out of respect, the museum would be closed “until further notice”.
In her Financial Times interview last week, Kouoh challenged the idea that death would bring an end to her endeavours.
“I do believe in life after death, because I come from an ancestral black education where we believe in parallel lives and realities,” she said.
“There is no ‘after death’, ‘before death’ or ‘during life’. It doesn’t matter that much. I believe in energies – living or dead – and in cosmic strength.”
source:BBC
