OSCAM x ARTNOIR: Watering a Black Garden
A transatlantic exhibition centering joy, lineage, and the creative sovereignty of women of color. Eight women and non-binary artists from across the African diaspora, based in six different countries, are brought together in Amsterdam to affirm joy, presence, and flourishing as radical and necessary acts.
OSCAM (Open Space Contemporary Art Museum) and ARTNOIR are pleased to present Watering a Black Garden, a group exhibition reimagining joy as a radical act of tending and becoming. The exhibition centers Black women as the originators, stewards, and visionaries of joy, an intentional practice in their lives. It marks a powerful transatlantic collaboration rooted in shared commitments to equity, visibility, and cultural exchange. The exhibition features an incredible ensemble of artists, including Maty Biayenda, Jeannette Ehlers, Ufuoma Essi, Shaniqwa Jarvis, Rachel Marsil, Aline Motta, Bernice Mulenga, and Nengi Omuku.
Connecting New York and Amsterdam
ARTNOIR makes its debut in the Netherlands through this collaboration with OSCAM, forging a bridge between New York and Amsterdam. ARTNOIR is a female-majority, Black- and Brown-led cultural platform that supports artists of color. With this exhibition, OSCAM and ARTNOIR aim to expand access, visibility, and opportunity within the contemporary art world, bringing underrepresented voices to the forefront.
Joy as a sustained practice
Watering a Black Garden is inspired by the seminal artist Raymond Saunders’ painting, which features the phrase “watering a black garden” written across a black canvas. This painting served as both a metaphor and a 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 lens of the artists’ varying artistic practices, the garden becomes a place where memory and lineage are nourished, and alternative futures take root.
Rather than serving as a passive backdrop, the garden proposes a way of being. The richness of the exhibition reflects Black and Brown femme life, where radiance is essential rather than decorative. Across different disciplines, the artists resist invisibility while opening space for healing, connection, and becoming.
Eight artists from across the diaspora
The participating artists embody this ethos across diverse disciplines and cultural contexts.
- Maty Biayenda (FR) interrogates the erasure of African narratives in European discourse.
- Jeannette Ehlers (DK/TT) confronts colonial histories through processes of healing and repair.
- Ufuoma Essi (GB/NG) explores Black feminist epistemologies and collective memory through video.
- Shaniqwa Jarvis (USA) captures vulnerability and optimism through photography.
- Rachel Marsil (FR) works with painting, textile and sculpture to explore questions of identity and representation.
- Aline Motta (BR) traces familial histories disrupted by colonial violence.
- Bernice Mulenga (GB/DRC) examines intimacy within the self and the Black queer community.
- Nengi Omuku (NG) creates immersive worlds reflecting place and belonging.
About ARTNOIR
ARTNOIR is a female‑majority, Black- and Brown-led cultural platform that supports artists, cultural workers, and art enthusiasts of color through exhibitions, partnerships, and global storytelling. ARTNOIR places diverse voices at the center of global cultural dialogue, making OSCAM a natural partner in this collaboration.
Watering a Black Garden
March 6 – May 6 2026
@ OSCAM