Starting in 2013 with the ambition to provide a voice to artists from Africa and its diaspora, 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair has increasingly gained recognition as a sustainable platform with a fundamental role in shaping the contemporary African art scene not only in London but in Marrakech, New York and Paris.
Lakwena Maciver © Jim Winslet
Celebrating its 10th anniversary in London this October, 1-54 is delighted to return to Somerset House with its flagship edition over the course of four days from 13-16 October 2022 (Press & VIP Preview on 13 October). 1-54 London 2022 will host 50 international exhibitors across 21 countries, its largest number of countries to date!
Of the 50 international exhibitors, 16 galleries are from the African continent, and 14 galleries will participate at the fair’s London edition for the first time. Newcomers to the fair include albertz benda (New York, USA), Berntson Bhattacharjee Gallery (London, UK), Galleria Poggiali (Milan, Florence, Italy), Portas Vilaseca Galeria (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), Selebe Yoon (Dakar, Senegal), and Unit London (London, UK), among others.
New and returning exhibitors will present over 130 artists working across an array of mediums from painting and sculpture to mixed media and installation. Works from established artists such as Ibrahim El-Salahi, Hassan Hajjaj, and Zanele Muholi to young and emerging artists including Sola Olulode and Pedro Neves will be on view. Book your ticket here!
1-54 London 2022 will be accompanied by a range of special projects and events, in addition to 1-54 Forum, the fair’s multi-disciplinary programme of talks, screenings, performances, workshops, and readings.
For the tenth London edition, author, curator and broadcaster, Dr Omar Kholeif returns to curate Forum. The programme begins by delving into art movements of the African diaspora in Britain–highlighting African and African diasporic artists and scholars.
Kholeif chose to title this year’s Forum, To Catch Flying Horses From the Sky. Directly inspired by a Kashmiri proverb, the title creates a framework to consider the impossible task of conjuring dreams in the present tense. What does it mean to achieve the seemingly impossible, to make visible that which lives amidst the crackle and crack, within the borderlands?
This edition of Forum is conceived as a moment for us to look inwards, to curate the invisible, and to cooperatively develop a toolkit for how we speak, support and conceive of art by African and diasporic artists in the immediate future. Join us over the next two days as we convene, listen, read and convalesce – moving across time as we examine the creative and artistic landscape of contemporary African art.
Discover more here!
