Sammy Baloji's first solo exhibition in the United States, exploring the legacies of the DRC's Katanga region and Belgian colonialism through photography, film and sculpture.
Sammy Baloji is showing at the Wexner Center for the Arts from September 20, 2026, through February 14, 2027. The exhibition is titled When Extraction Becomes Form It Speaks in Borrowed Tongues, and it's Baloji's first solo show in the United States.
Baloji was born in 1978 in Lubumbashi, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and since 2005 he's been tracing the entangled histories of the DRC. He focuses on the cultural, architectural, and industrial legacies of the mineral-rich Katanga region, and he looks closely at the enduring structures of Belgian colonialism. He works across photography, film, and sculpture to collapse past and present, researching the physical and symbolic remnants of colonial power in architecture and the decorative arts.
Beyond the studio, he's a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres and the founder of the Rencontres Picha/Biennale de Lubumbashi, and he's widely recognized as one of the most influential artists working today. He lives and works between Brussels and his hometown. The show is organized by the Wexner Center and curated by Head of Visual Arts Julieta González.
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It's a long run, so you've got plenty of time to catch it. Admission is free for all audiences, and it stays on view through February 14, 2027, at the Wexner Center in Columbus.
