When 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair returns to New York in May 2025, from the 8th to the 11th, it brings with it a slew of Special Projects that reaffirm the fair’s commitment to elevating diverse African and diasporic voices. These projects offer more than visual appeal—they embody…
Entries are now officially open for the 2025 Sasol New Signatures Visual Arts Competition, South Africa’s leading platform for emerging visual artists. Now in its 35th year of Sasol’s sponsorship, Sasol New Signatures remains a prestigious platform for emerging artists to break into the professional art world. Submission Guidelines…
Goodman Gallery presents Ravelle Pillay’s American debut with Sanctum (The Light and the Shade), the artist’s first solo exhibition at the gallery’s New York location. The exhibition features a new series of paintings that respond to Pillay’s 2024 trip to Réunion Island, offering a layered exploration of the island’s…
Cassi Namoda to transform the iconic floor-to-ceiling windows of the Sunley Gallery overlooking Margate’s beaches and the North Sea at Turner Contemporary. Marking Namoda’s first institutional project in Europe, this new commission inaugurates Turner Contemporary’s annual programme inviting artists to engage with the gallery’s distinctive architecture and coastal…
Kevin Young has reportedly stepped down as the head of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) amid a politically charged atmosphere surrounding the institution. His departure follows increasing tensions related to ongoing political attacks. Kevin Young outside the Smithsonian National Museum of African…
Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Zeitz MOCAA) has announced the addition of nine prominent figures to its Global Council. Zeitz MOCAA (Image credits: Iwan Baan) The new appointees represent a dynamic cross-section of international leaders in the arts, philanthropy, and business: Dr. Anita Blanchard, Dave Ross, Holly…
Yancey Richardson presents Sawubona, an exhibition bringing together work from five different series made between 2002–2013 by South African visual artist and activist Zanele Muholi. Their fifth exhibition with the gallery, Sawubona reveals both the historical depth and visual complexity of Muholi’s overarching project of empowering the Black LGBTQIA+ community in…
The Rele Arts Foundation has opened applications for the 2026 edition of its Young Contemporaries program, running from April 4 to May 2, 2025. Now in its ninth year, this program helps early-career African artists grow through mentorship, virtual bootcamps, residencies, and curated exhibitions. Young Contemporaries (Image credit:…
kó presents Mining Abstractions, a group exhibition that brings together artists who engage abstraction to decipher cultural codes, histories and mythologies. Their works deconstruct systems of visual language through mark-making, pattern, repetition and fluid structures. Working across painting, drawing, ceramics, textiles, and design, these artists approach abstraction as a practice…
Needs a Frame”. The exhibition will run at Alliance Française, from April 16 to April 27, 2025. This expansive exhibition accompanies the documentary Every Picture Needs a Frame, directed by Lucy Chodota. Together, the film and exhibition delve into the complex relationship between the late renowned American photographer Peter Beard and eight Kenyan…
Sotheby’s hosted its highly anticipated Modern & Contemporary African Art auction in London, where it raised a remarkable £2.4 million (approximately $2.9 million). Hassan El Glaoui, La Sortie du Roi, Est: £80,000-120,000. (Image credits: Sotheby’s) This success marked the sixth dedicated sale in this category, further affirming the increasing global…
Standard Bank Young Artist Awards (SBYA) has announced its 2025 recipients, celebrating four decades of championing emerging South African talent. The 2025 Standard Bank Young Artists are, from left to right: Modise Sekgothe, Nyakallo Maleke, Siya Charles, Asanda Ruda, and Muneyi. Seated: Calvin Ratladi. (Image Credits: Standard Bank…
Black Rock Senegal, the artist-in-residence program founded by Kehinde Wiley, has opened its annual call for applications. Artwork by Micaela Tabaton-Osbourne (Image courtesy: Black Rock Senegal) Established in 2019, the residency invites international artists to live and work in Dakar, Senegal, for a period of one to three…
Gallery 1957 presents Of Movement, Materials and Methods, a solo exhibition by Modupeola Fadugba. As an official part of the London Gallery Weekend 2025 programme, the exhibition is inspired by the rich pageantry of the Ojude Oba festival held annually in Ijebu-Ode, Nigeria. The festival is a vibrant celebration of Yoruba heritage,…
As galleries and museums prepare for their spring programming, an exciting wave of publications has risen. These new book releases celebrates the rising global prominence of African figuration. From Nairobi to Harare, São Paulo to Los Angeles, artists are releasing groundbreaking books that document their evolving practices .Moreover,…
British-Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare CBE RA presents his first major solo exhibition on the African continent with Safiotra [Hybridities] at Fondation H in Antananarivo, Madagascar. Yinka Shonibare (Image credit: Fondation H) From April 11, 2025, to February 28, 2026, Fondation H grants Shonibare carte blanche, transforming its 2,200-square-meter…
French Riviera-inspired La Petite Maison (LPM) partnered with Pearl Lam Galleries for a restaurant exhibition, Blooming Shields, showcasing Nigerian artist Ayobola Kekere-Ekun during Art Basel Hong Kong. Celebrating shared joys of food, art, and culture, the exhibition ran from the 17th of March until the 16th of April at…
WHATIFTHEWORLD Gallery presents Dressed Overall, a solo exhibition by Inga Somdyala. Somdyala’s primary excitement lies in form, colour, shape and materiality. With that said, this exhibition features flags, which are a convenient visual language through which the artist breaks the rules of vexillology. Given the six colours of…
Stevenson is pleased to present Thank you for bearing witness by Mahube Diseko, as part of its sixth iteration of STAGE, a platform for younger unrepresented artists. Speaking on love and its risks, bell hooks states, “The practice of love offers no place of safety. We risk loss, hurt, pain.…
A rediscovered 1897 portrait by Austrian painter Gustav Klimt has captivated the art world with its unveiling at TEFAF Maastricht in the Netherlands. Gustav Klimt, Prince William Nii Nortey Dowuona (1897). (Image credit: W&K – Wienerroither & Kohlbacher.) The painting, depicting Prince William Nii Nortey Dowuona of the Ga people…