Mariane Ibrahim Champions Contemporary African Art In Paris

You left France ten years ago to open a gallery in Seattle. Wasn't the venture possible in Paris? I had already started the venture in France, but it couldn't get very far because I could see there was a certain resistance to work by artists of color or from the African diaspora. I left because African-Americans had begun to make headway with institutions, which gave the country a cultural, social and artistic appeal. But I ended up in Seattle: a city that is ultimately neither diverse nor artistically inclined. I wondered how best to promote artists in a place that is not a platform like New York or Los Angeles, so I went looking for customers. The fairs helped me to present my program and meet collectors with a sense of curiosity who moved around. And you have to remember that this was during Barack Obama's first term (2009 to 2012—Ed.). Since then, we have experienced not a cultural revolution in the US, but a form of emancipation, with artists who have not been very visible until now—i.e. artists of color, LGBT+ and women. There has been a shift in the balance, and the place of diversity is…