Mariama De Brito Henn, MA
Mariama De Brito Henn, MA
University assistant, prae-doc
Mariama de Brito Henn is a textile- and fashion historian and since 2023 university assistant (prae-doc) at the faculty center for transdisciplinary historical and cultural studies under the cultural heritage studies chair. She studied Costume Interpretation (BA) at the University of Arts London, UK, and Art History (MA) at the Ludwig-Maximilian-University Munich, Germany. Her work focused on West-African textiles from colonial contexts, by, among other things, working with the collection of the museum Fünf Kontinente, Munich.
As curator in training at the Textile- and Industrial Museum Augsburg (2021-2023), she worked on the exhibitions “Who Cares? – Exploring solidarity” (2021) and “Coolness. Staging fashion in the 20th century” (2022-23). As a curator she tries to bring voices from the margins to the front, by focusing and working with themes and communities that are underrepresented in museums (as visitors and voices).
In her PhD project she’s researching the aesthetic practices of American afro-spiritual religions, by looking at Candomblé (Brazil), Santería (Cuba) and Voodoo (USA). Using ritual dress as an alternative archive for the cultural histories of the African diasporas. In doing so she’s exploring how afro-spiritualism formed Black and national identities in the Americas.