Work
The umbrella as artistic practice — presence, protection, ceremony. Works organised by series, each a sustained engagement with Ghanaian royal visual culture and the archive.
View Portfolio →Accra, Ghana
At the center of this framework, the umbrella sits within my artistic practice, and the stool grounds my research practice. The umbrella allows me to think through presence, protection, and ceremony, while the stool reminds me of responsibility, lineage, and the weight of what must be carried forward. Together, they form the heart of how I approach the archive.
Presence, protection, ceremony — works, exhibitions, and press
Responsibility, lineage, archive — Si Hene Foundation
The umbrella as artistic practice — presence, protection, ceremony. Works organised by series, each a sustained engagement with Ghanaian royal visual culture and the archive.
View Portfolio →
Artist statement
At the center of this framework, the umbrella sits within my artistic practice, and the stool grounds my research practice. The umbrella allows me to think through presence, protection, and ceremony, while the stool reminds me of responsibility, lineage, and the weight of what must be carried forward. Together, they form the heart of how I approach the archive.
Biography
Rita Mawuena Benissan (b. 1995, Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire. Lives and works in Accra, Ghana) is a Ghanaian interdisciplinary artist, raised in the United States, on a mission to reimagine the royal umbrella, transforming it from a mere protective object into a potent symbol of Ghanaian identity. With a profound passion for art and cultural history, Rita collaborates with traditional artisans to breathe life into archival photos, immortalising individual figures and communal scenes while embodying the beauty and power of her people.
Education
Born in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire in 1995 to Ghanaian parents, Rita's journey led her to the United States as a baby, where she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Apparel and Textile Design from Michigan State University in 2017, followed by a Master of Fine Arts in Photography and an African Studies Program Certificate from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2021.
Si Hene Foundation
In 2020, Rita established Si Hene, a foundation dedicated to preserving Ghana's chieftaincy and traditional culture. Through her foundation, she played a pivotal role in the reopening of the National Museum of Ghana in 2022 and served as Chief Curator at the Institute Museum of Ghana (Noldor Artist Residency) until 2022. She also served as Artistic Director for the Open Society Foundation's Restitution Conference in Accra.
Exhibitions
Rita's artistic prowess has garnered global recognition, with exhibitions at Arts + Literature Laboratory in Wisconsin (2021), the Foundation Contemporary of Art at Afrochella Festival (2021), Dak'Art — Biennale de l'Art Africain Contemporain at the IFAN African Art Museum in Dakar, Senegal (2022), the group show EFIE: Museum as Home in Dortmund, Germany, and Mitchell and Innes Gallery in New York (2023). Her solo exhibition In the World Not of the World, curated by Ekow Eshun at Gallery 1957 in Accra (2023), stands as a testament to her dedication to redefining the narrative of Ghanaian identity through beauty and strength. Rita exhibited at 1-54 Marrakesh alongside Amoako Boafo and Zanele Muholi (2024) and participated in the Venice Biennale group exhibition Unapologetic WomXn: The Dream is the Truth, curated by Destinee Ross-Sutton (2024). In October 2025 she debuted her first solo exhibition in London, The Ones Before Her Were Covered in Gold, at Gallery 1957. Works by Benissan are featured in the Sharjah Biennale 16 in the UAE (February 2025). She has been commissioned for a landmark installation in the Atrium of Zeitz MOCAA in Cape Town — making history as the first female and youngest artist to receive this prestigious commission. Entitled The Procession, the work is an 18-metre embroidered tapestry installation and one of the most ambitious works of her career to date, on view through October 2026.
Collections
Rita's works have been acquired by private and institutional collections including Pérez Art Museum Miami, Foundation H, The Dean Collection, The OmenaArt Foundation, Fundación Yannick Y Ben, Paola Pavirani Golinelli, Nicolas Berggruen, and Amoako Boafo, among others.
Preserving Ghana's chieftaincy and traditional culture — the research ground beneath the artistic practice. The stool reminds me of responsibility, lineage, and the weight of what must be carried forward.
Si Hene was established to create a living archive of Ghanaian royal culture — documenting, preserving, and reimagining the objects, ceremonies, and figures that form the foundation of the artistic work. The name itself carries authority: Si Hene is a declaration of cultural custodianship.
Visit Si Hene Foundation ↗For inquiries, please email rita.benissan@gmail.com
