"The community here in the Philippines deserves to see world-class artists," Ossei-Mensah says. The opportunity to showcase to art lovers and patrons here in Manila the diversity of creative approaches by the African diasporic artists is just one of the many reasons why Ossei-Mensah got excited to work on this project with the M, the curator shares with Tatler.

"Seeing and understanding the nuance of humanity through these communities where these artists came from and get inspirations for their art interests me the most in this first-of-its-kind exhibition in the Philippines," Ossei-Mensah says.

The Ghanaian-American curator shares further that growing up in New York City made his access to the art of the Black community quite limited. This made him emphasise the importance of making this kind of exhibition available on this side of the world, opening the door for learning from other cultures, which are "process, material, ideas such as body, subjectivity, intimacy, liberation, and more."

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The exhibition is divided by long walls, making it seem like there are four chambers one can spend time on. There are long benches thoughtfully placed in each chamber, giving one the vantage point for two to three artworks from either a pair of established and emerging artists or those whose artistic journeys are interconnected. If not, the curator ensured that the artworks grouped in a chamber relate to each other—a thematic approach Ossei-Mensah has always been lauded for. Such orientation sparks meaningful conversations about these artists and their work.

"Putting there the bench stands, we create a moment of looking," he says. "We're distracted by so many devices nowadays that we tend to forget what it means to look and contemplate art. For me, artworks are like onions that reveal themselves after you peel layer after layer.

In connection with this, Tan, whose expansive art collection made this exhibition possible, shares with Tatler that "the figurations in these works connect to me personally." The collector recalls that initially, he chose these works from his travels around the world simply because they are at the price point he is comfortable purchasing. But as he dug deeper later on into the artworks and the artists behind them, he enjoyed learning more about them and their distinctive creative approaches. "The most important thing in collecting is you enjoy the art you collect and not simply their monetary value," Tan adds.

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Tan and Ossei-Mensah share that the concept for this exhibition started last spring of 2022 when they met in Paris for dinner. Inspired by the Grammy award-winning and US-based musical ensemble, Sounds of Blackness, the exhibition aims to stimulate the senses of visitors similar to how music impacts across demographics. The two teamed up with the M in January 2023, picking out works not from Tan alone but from other art collectors as well who are equally committed to highlighting African Diasporic art in the country for the first time.

Most of the artists Ossei-Mensah knows, but to add a little complexity to the exhibition, the curator tapped prominent names from different disciplines, particularly sculpture and film. The two also kept in mind making this exhibition a meeting of polarities, for example, the work of self-taught artist Bongani Tshabalala side-by-side with the piece by Yale School of Art graduate Tschabalala Self. 

The contemporary art of global Black culture for Ossei-Mensah remains vast and rich, weaved by the artists' prowess in storytelling. Quoting John Berger, the curator says that how one sees the world depends on the environment one grew up in.

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"You see the world as a by-product of these cultural influences and it informs how you think, your aesthetics, how you feel about yourself. . .so globally, there are varying degrees of that perception of the world among these artists. Some would want to contend with it, some would want to reject it, and some people want to embrace it. Themes of looking at the self, identity, body, and more exist in these works but perceptions vary in terms of colours, textures, process, and materiality. And in turn for the viewer, new meanings evoke because although we come from different cultures, we have shared sensibilities. You see a work by David "Mr StarCity" White made of fabric, a material not all people in the world can afford to wear, and now it is transformed into art to create a new meaning. So now, how does that work make you feel?"

Featuring an ensemble of artists from various cultural backgrounds, social statuses, artistic disciplines, and achievements, the exhibition makes a snapshot of African Diasporic artists' ingenuity and resourcefulness, says Ossei-Mensah.

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"From a market standpoint, there is an increasing demand for the work of these artists, which is one of the reasons why I said yes to this show. It is evident in the Hong Kong art auction market," says the curator. "But the challenge is balancing that. Making a sort of statement that it's not just about this artist's work is at x value, but there are deeper and meaningful conversations that spring from them."

Ossei-Mensah believes in the opportunity of expanding the entry point of conversations for these works by African Diasporic artists. The curator puts Vaugh Spann's Southern Lily (Marked Man) as an example: "For some audiences, it can mean Malcolm X, the artist himself, Black men as targets of hate crimes, and so on. There are multiple reads. So what happens now when you have it in Manila?" Ossei-Mensah says.

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The shared histories of the Filipino and African peoples make this exhibition worthwhile visiting for Ossei-Mensah. "Both had tricky colonial pasts in varying degrees, making artmaking processes share the same passion, intention, and soul. The expression, whether to art or music, would have similarities," Ossei-Mensah says. "Growing up with Filipino friends—I've been to a wedding of one—has made this experience of being in Manila to put up this exhibition feel like I'm home. There are lots of shared experiences between cultures. For instance, the celebration of families by eating together is something close to the hearts of Filipinos and Africans."

The curator believes we are more connected in ways we don't understand. But many of the technologies nowadays tend to strengthen the division among us. When one looks at a work in the Sounds of Blackness exhibition, one would be surprised by how strong these underlying connections beyond boundaries that we have.

"The sound of blackness is soulful, joyful, painful, raw, organic, has a rhythm and a tempo, and is spiritual. This channelling of the spirit is a mechanism to deal with the emotions that make us human," says the Ossei-Mensah. "Music connects cultures even though one doesn't know the language of the other. And that's why it has become an important framework of this exhibition—because visual arts can do the same thing if you will only listen, look, and feel."

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