Watering a Black Garden @ Open Space Contemporary Art Museum, Amsterdam : Rachel Marsil
A Transatlantic Exhibition Centering Joy, Lineage, and the Creative Sovereignty of Women of Color at the Open Space Contemporary Art Museum (OSCAM).
On March 6, Open Space Contemporary Art Museum (OSCAM) and ARTNOIR are pleased to present Watering a Black Garden, a group exhibition reimagining joy as a radical act of tending and becoming. This powerful transatlantic collaboration brings together eight women and non-binary artists from across the African diaspora, based in six different countries, to affirm joy, presence, and flourishing as radical and necessary acts.
The exhibition centers Black and Brown women as visionaries of abundance, framing joy as an intentional practice of care within Black femme experiences. Rooted in shared commitments to equity, visibility, and cultural exchange, this collaboration marks ARTNOIR’s debut in the Netherlands while further expanding OSCAM’s global dialogue.
Connecting New York and Amsterdam
Through this partnership, ARTNOIR forges a cultural bridge between New York and Amsterdam. A female-majority, Black- and Brown-led cultural platform, ARTNOIR supports artists of color through exhibitions, partnerships, and global storytelling initiatives.
Together, OSCAM and ARTNOIR aim to expand access, visibility, and opportunity within the contemporary art world by bringing historically underrepresented voices to the forefront. The collaboration connects local audiences to global conversations while highlighting Amsterdam-Zuidoost on the international cultural stage.
The exhibition features an exceptional ensemble of artists, including Maty Biayenda, Jeannette Ehlers, Ufuoma Essi, Shaniqwa Jarvis, Rachel Marsil, Aline Motta, Bernice Mulenga, and Nengi Omuku.
Joy as a Sustained Practice
Watering a Black Garden draws inspiration from a seminal painting by Raymond Saunders, which features the phrase “watering a black garden” written across a black canvas. The work serves as both metaphor and call to action for the exhibition’s curators.
The exhibition asks what it means to nurture oneself, one’s community, and one’s creative lineage in a world shaped by histories of erasure and ongoing inequity. Through the artists’ varied practices, watering becomes a metaphor for sustained, intentional acts that foster flourishing. The garden emerges as a space where memory and lineage are nourished, and where alternative futures can take root.
Rather than functioning as a passive backdrop, the garden proposes a way of being: grounded, attentive, and expansive. The richness of the exhibition reflects Black and Brown femme life, where radiance is essential rather than ornamental. Across disciplines, the artists assert presence as both a personal and political act—resisting invisibility while opening space for healing, connection, and becoming.
Curatorial Voices
Marian Duff, Founding Director of OSCAM, shares:
“This collaboration feels like both a natural and meaningful moment. I have been following ARTNOIR for many years and am proud that together we are bringing artists from around the world to Amsterdam-Zuidoost for their Dutch debut.”
Larry Ossei-Mensah, Co-founder of ARTNOIR and co-curator of the exhibition, adds:
“Watering a Black Garden is an offering and an insistence. It is about creating space for women of color to be fully present, joyful, complex, and sovereign. The works in this exhibition remind us that flourishing itself is a form of resistance.”