Th Whitney Museum of Art presents : THe first sols museum of Coumba Saba

 

WHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART PRESENTS THE FIRST SOLO MUSEUM EXHIBITION OF COUMBA SAMBA

A major new commission by the Harlem-born artist transforms the Whitney's Lobby Gallery into an immersive environment examining power, militarism, and the global infrastructures that shape contemporary life.

New York, NY, September 19, 2026 — The Whitney Museum of American Art presents Coumba Samba: Stars and Stripes, opening today. The exhibition marks the first solo museum presentation devoted to New York-based Senegalese American artist Coumba Samba (b. 2000), whose ambitious installations examine the social, political, and economic systems embedded within the built environment. In Stars and Stripes, Samba draws on the geometric forms and bold colors of modernist abstraction to explore the entanglement of resource extraction, militarism, and systems of global power. Sculptures modeled after depleted uranium shells are painted in the colors of the flags of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Namibia, Niger, and the United States. By using elements of national identity—including stripes, colors, and graphic forms—Samba interrogates the histories concealed within these familiar symbols and the systems that have shaped the global military-industrial complex and the development of nuclear weapons. The African nations referenced in the installation were among the world’s principal sources of uranium ore during the Cold War, when many of their mines were operated by foreign companies. Reverberations of these histories run throughout the exhibition. The Shinkolobwe mine in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, for example, supplied much of the uranium ore used for the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945. Decades later, allegations that Iraq had sought five hundred tons of uranium ore from Niger became part of the case presented by the U.S. government for the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Samba considers the global nuclear order in relation to a geography of extraction established under colonial rule. While resource-rich African nations have often not received the full economic benefits of their natural resources, their communities and landscapes have borne significant environmental consequences. Through Stars and Stripes, Samba examines the enduring effects of colonial systems on African people, places, resources, and sovereignty.  The exhibition is presented in the Whitney’s Lobby Gallery, organized by Rujeko Hockley, Guest Curator, with Antonia Pocock, Curatorial Assistant.

ABOUT COUMBA SAMBA Born and raised in Harlem, Couma Samba studied at the Rhode Island School of Design before earning her BA from Camberwell College of Arts in London. Working across sculpture, installation, sound, and light, she draws upon the histories of modernist abstraction and minimalism while revealing the structures of power that can be concealed within seemingly neutral forms. Alongside her visual art practice, Samba is also the vocalist for the experimental pop music duo NEW YORK. The exhibition opens at a pivotal moment in Samba’s career, following her recent participation in Greater New York 2026 at MoMA PS1 and Fade at the Studio Museum in Harlem. While her work has been exhibited extensively in Europe, Coumba Samba: Stars and Stripes marks a significant homecoming and milestone of recognition in New York, the city where she was born and raised. ABOUT THE WHITNEY The Whitney Museum of American Art, founded in 1930 by the artist and philanthropist Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (1875–1942), houses the foremost collection of American art from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Mrs. Whitney, an early and ardent supporter of modern American art, nurtured groundbreaking artists when audiences were still largely preoccupied with the Old Masters. From her vision arose the Whitney Museum of American Art, which has been championing the most innovative art of the United States for ninety years. The core of the Whitney’s mission is to collect, preserve, interpret, and exhibit American art of our time and serve a wide variety of audiences in celebration of the complexity and diversity of art and culture in the United States. Through this mission and a steadfast commitment to artists, the Whitney has long been a powerful force in support of modern and contemporary art and continues to help define what is innovative and influential in American art today. Whitney Museum Land Acknowledgment The Whitney is located in Lenapehoking, the ancestral homeland of the Lenape. The name Manhattan comes from their word Mannahatta, meaning “island of many hills.” The Museum’s current site is close to land that was a Lenape fishing and planting site called Sapponckanikan (“tobacco field”). The Whitney acknowledges the displacement of this region’s original inhabitants and the Lenape diaspora that exists today. As a museum of American art in a city with vital and diverse communities of Indigenous people, the Whitney recognizes the historical exclusion of Indigenous artists from its collection and program. The Museum is committed to addressing these erasures and honoring the perspectives of Indigenous artists and communities as we work for a more equitable future. To read more about the Museum’s Land Acknowledgment, visit the Museum’s website. VISITOR INFORMATION The Whitney Museum of American Art is located at 99 Gansevoort Street between Washington and West Streets, New York City. Public hours are Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday, 10:30 am–6 pm; Friday, 10:30 am–10 pm; and Saturday and Sunday, 10:30 am–6 pm. Closed Tuesday. Visitors twenty-five years and under and Whitney members: FREE. The Museum offers FREE admission and special programming for visitors of all ages every Friday evening from 5–10 pm and on the second Sunday of every month. Whitney Museum of American Art 99 Gansevoort Street New York, NY 10014 whitney.org                                Discover the Whitney’s audio guides and accessible content on Bloomberg Connects.  Image credit: SIERRA Uninhabited Aerial System (UAV plane) in the Ames hangar, 2006, with editing by Coumba Samba, 2026. Source photograph by Tom Trower, courtesy NASA Image and Video Library #whitneymuseumamericanart#fineartmagazineblog.blogspot.com #sunstormfineartmagazine.com#artfunharlem#artfunwhitney#artfunnyc#artfunnow,