Milwaukee Art Museum to Present Widline Cadet’s First U.S. Museum Solo Exhibition

MILWAUKEE, WI— March 11, 2026—The Milwaukee Art Museum announces Currents 40: Widline Cadet, the first solo museum exhibition in the United States by artist Widline Cadet and the first full presentation of her ambitious, nearly decade- long project Seremoni Disparisyon (Ritual [Dis]Appearance). On view May 8 through August 9, 2026, the exhibition marks a defining moment in Cadet’s career and a major contribution to contemporary photography and media-based art.

Working across photography, video, and installation, Cadet explores Black diasporic life through themes of migration, memory, absence, and belonging. Rooted in lived experience and shaped by displacement between Haiti and the United States, Seremoni Disparisyon transforms personal history into a dreamlike, proxy world—one that resists fixed narratives and instead unfolds through repetition, doubling, and carefully staged imagery.

Cadet began the project by photographing members of her extended family in response to the scarcity of ancestral images passed down through generations. Increasingly limited access to her relatives abroad as well as generational transformation amongst her family in the U.S. inspired the artist to turn the camera toward herself and those around her, creating a “living archive.” Across the exhibition, autobiographical details—such as re-created domestic interiors, clothing, and gestures—bridge past and present, presence and disappearance.

“The Milwaukee Art Museum holds one of the world’s outstanding collections of 20th-century Haitian art and it is essential that we also make space for contemporary artists who are shaping how diasporic histories are understood today,” said Kim Sajet, Donna and Donald Baumgartner Director of the Milwaukee Art Museum. “Widline Cadet’s work brings those histories into the present, offering audiences a living, contemporary perspective that deepens how Haitian art is seen and understood at MAM.”

Installed in the Museum’s Herzfeld Center for Photography and Media Arts, the exhibition highlights Cadet’s innovative approach to image-making and display within a program known for advancing contemporary photography and media art. Photographs appear alongside video, found imagery, and sculptural elements, often presented in unexpected configurations that disrupt traditional modes of photographic viewing. The result is an immersive experience that invites viewers to encounter images not simply as documents, but as evolving sites of memory and meaning.

“In Seremoni Disparisyon (Ritual [Dis]Appearance), Widline Cadet creates an intimate world centered on Black diasporic life that is grounded in her own experience,” said Kristen Gaylord, Herzfeld Curator of Photography and Media Arts. “Yet, like all great art, her work reaches beyond the personal to address topics broadly relevant to us all, including community and belonging, the gaps of family histories, and maintaining connection across distance and loss.”

The Milwaukee Art Museum established an early relationship with Cadet through the acquisition of her work in 2021, continuing a tradition of supporting emerging artists. Currents 40: Widline Cadet reflects the Museum’s belief in the importance of sustained institutional support as artists develop ambitious, long-term bodies of work.

Presented as part of the Museum’s Currents series—its platform for artists shaping today’s conversations in art and culture—the exhibition positions Cadet’s practice within a broader lineage of experimental photography and media art while offering a timely meditation on diaspora, self-authorship, and memory.

To learn more, visit: https://mam.org/exhibitions/widline-cadet/

Artist Bio

Widline Cadet (b. 1992, Pétion-Ville, Ayiti) earned her MFA from Syracuse University after completing her BA in studio art from the City College of New York. Her work has been exhibited and published widely and resides in numerous private and public collections, including the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Studio Museum in Harlem, New York; Huis Marseille, Museum for Photography, Amsterdam; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Pérez Art Museum, Miami; and Milwaukee Art Museum. She has received numerous awards and fellowships, including from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation (2025), the Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago (2020), and Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture (2018). Her first monograph, Ritual [Dis]Appearance / Seremoni disparisyon, was published by Black Mountains Studio in May 2025. Cadet lives and works in Los Angeles, CA.

Support

Supporting sponsors
Milwaukee Art Museum’s African American Art Alliance
Anonymous

Contributing sponsors
Christopher E. Olofson
The Ruttenberg ’52 Collection
Anonymous

Exhibitions in the Herzfeld Center for Photography and Media Arts are sponsored by the Herzfeld Foundation.

The Milwaukee Art Museum extends its sincere thanks to the Visionaries for their support of the exhibition program:
Mark and Debbie Attanasio
Donna and Donald Baumgartner
Murph Burke
Bill and Sandy Haack
Chris Harned and Elizabeth Quadracci Harned
The Helmerich Trust
Kenneth and Alice Kayser
Joan Lubar and John Crouch
Jeff and Gail Yabuki

Visit
Currents 40: Widline Cadet is on view May 8–August 9, 2026, in the Herzfeld Center for Photography and Media Arts.

Programming:
May 7, Member Opening
May 8, Special Edition Gallery Talk with Widline Cadet
June 26, Gallery Talk
July 16, Artist Talk: Widline Cadet
August 1, Guest Gallery Talk with Shelby Sinclair
August 6, Haberman Local Luminaries

Admission:
Adults: $27
Students, seniors (65+), military: $20
Kids 12 and under: Free, thanks to an anonymous donor
Wisconsin K–12 teachers: Free with valid school ID or pay stub
Members: Free

Thursday Nights at MAM:
Every Thursday, admission is pay-what-you-wish from 4 to 8 p.m.

Museum admission includes access to collection and exhibition galleries and the Kohl’s Art Studio, which is open Friday–Sunday, 10 a.m.–4 p.m.

Membership:
Members enjoy free admission, exclusive programs, and special access throughout the year. Learn more at mam.org/membership.

Experience the Burke Brise Soleil:
Designed by Santiago Calatrava, the Museum’s iconic wings open daily with the Museum, close and re-open at noon, and close at 10 p.m. The wings are illuminated nightly from sundown to 10 p.m.; movement is weather permitting.

About the Milwaukee Art Museum
The Milwaukee Art Museum is an essential destination for art and architecture and a vital cultural resource that connects visitors to dynamic art experiences and one another. Housed in iconic buildings by Santiago Calatrava, Eero Saarinen, and David Kahler on a 24-acre lakefront campus, the Museum is Wisconsin’s largest art institution and home to both broad and deep collections, with exceptional holdings in American painting, sculpture, and decorative arts; global contemporary art, with a strength in minimalist and conceptual art; prints and drawings; European art from the Renaissance through the nineteenth century; photography and new media; modern and contemporary design; folk and self-taught art; and twentieth-century Haitian art. A bold symbol of Milwaukee’s ambition and forward-thinking vision, the Museum is a place for community building, education, and celebration that fosters creativity, free speech, and critical discourse for audiences of all ages and backgrounds. For more information, visit mam.org.

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.