H.E. Mohamed Khalifa Al Mubarak – Chairman, DCT Abu Dhabi
One of the most meaningful expressions of Abu Dhabi’s global cultural vision is the growing connections we are forging with Africa.
At the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi, we believe that cultural encounters are among the most powerful forces shaping our shared future. They offer not just insight, but connection. They remind us that what unites us is far deeper than what divides us. Africa’s immense contribution to global culture is not new. But it is now being recognised with a new clarity and resonance through exhibitions, partnerships, and narratives that reflect our commitment to cultural diversity, equity, and a more balanced global perspective.
At the heart of this is Saadiyat Cultural District, Abu Dhabi’s empowering platform for global art and culture, where the great cultural institutions of the 21st century are being brought together with a singular vision: to connect cultures and inspire creativity. Saadiyat Cultural District is a place where artists and cultural practitioners from across Africa, and indeed from across the global South, are shaping the narrative, not as topics of study and research but as collaborators and storytellers.
As part of our commitment to advancing global cultural dialogue, Saadiyat Cultural District’s unique institutions each contribute to a new and more equitable cultural narrative. It is built on the legacy of the UAE’s Founding Father, the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, who believed in the unifying power of culture and the importance of preserving and understanding the heritage of others.
That spirit came to life in Louvre Abu Dhabi’s exhibition, Kings and Queens of Africa: Forms and Figures of Power which ran from January to June this year and welcomed over 182,000 visitors. Featuring more than 350 works from across the continent, the exhibition offered a powerful reflection of the artistic and cultural heritage of African societies. As the museum’s first show dedicated solely to sub-Saharan Africa, it marked an important step in representing African creativity.
The exhibition’s impact was both intellectual and emotional. Visitors encountered ancient wooden sculptures that echo the forms of European modernism, contemporary artworks such as Eddy Kamuanga Ilunga’s Forget the Past and You Lose Both Eyes, and ceremonial pieces that embody centuries of cultural expressions. These are not fragments of a forgotten past, they are living testaments to the continuity and depth of African civilisation.
What I find heartening is that as Abu Dhabi prepares to complete Saadiyat Cultural District, countries across Africa are opening new museums that will deploy culture to drive greater understanding. At a Louvre Abu Dhabi symposium affiliated with Kings and Queens, museum leaders from Africa articulated their ambitions to inspire and help communities reclaim their stories. “We need to preserve our heroes’ history,” said Nigussu Mekonnen Abay, head of museum education at Ethiopia’s National Museum, in discussing the Museum of the Battle of Adwa, which opened last year and commemorates a famous victory by Ethiopian troops in 1896.
Kojo Yankah, founder and chairman of the Pan African Heritage Museum project in Ghana, said museums can heal and inspire through heroes, stories, inspiration and connection. “We are going to tell our own story,” he said. We share that belief. That is why the commitment to African art and artists runs through all our institutions and reflects a long-term, institutional commitment to inclusion, equity, and the power of cultural exchange.
When the District’s Guggenheim Abu Dhabi opens its doors, it will present a truly global collection with powerful representation from the African continent. The museum’s narrative will highlight artists such as Igshaan Adams, whose woven installations explore hybrid identity in post-apartheid South Africa; Meleko Mokgosi, whose work interrogates history and resistance; Bertina Lopes, whose art responded to colonialism in Mozambique; and Bruce Onobrakpeya, whose pioneering techniques are rooted in West African traditions.
Abu Dhabi’s investment in culture is fundamentally about education and empathy. By learning about another’s heritage, we gain perspective on our own place in the world. This is why access and engagement are key priorities. From school visits to digital outreach, we are ensuring that the next generation grows up understanding the richness of global creativity, including that of Africa. And as we expand our cultural outreach, our physical and institutional connections with Africa are also deepening. The UAE national airline, Etihad Airways, has doubled its African destinations since late 2024, adding routes to Nairobi, Algiers, Tunis, and Al Alamein. In January, our fellow emirate Sharjah launched its first Festival of African Literature, and on the global stage, the UAE has co-created a fund to support the conservation of Africa’s most precious heritage.
This is part of a broader regional momentum, but also a natural evolution of the UAE’s longstanding belief in openness, hospitality, and intercultural dialogue. Our histories—Africa’s and the Arab world’s—have been intertwined for millennia through trade, travel, migration, and exchange. What we are doing now is shining a light on those connections and giving them renewed meaning for the future. Zayed National Museum, opening soon, will embody this commitment to shared humanity. Its gallery To Our Ancestors will trace 300,000 years of human activity in our region, highlighting how migration from East Africa helped shape some of the world’s earliest societies, and how the Arabian Peninsula has long been a place of convergence.
To our African partners—artists, thinkers, leaders—we say: in this moment of global transformation, cultural institutions must represent a fuller picture of who we are, and who we have always been. The work ahead is about lasting partnership and shared purpose. Because the global story of culture is not complete until every voice is heard. And every history is told.