Portia Zvavahera @ David Zwirner, Los Angeles - 'Zvibereko zvemweya wangu' Exhibition

Portia Zvavahera

Zvibereko zvemweya wangu

David Zwirner, Los Angeles

November 14, 2025 – February 7, 2026

Portia Zvavahera

Takasunungurwa, 2025 

© Portia Zvavahera. Courtesy Stevenson and David Zwirner

David Zwirner presents Zvibereko zvemweya wangu, its third solo exhibition with the Zimbabwean artist Portia Zvavahera. Taking place at the gallery’s 606 N Western Avenue location in Los Angeles, this presentation features a series of new works that continues to develop Zvavahera’s experiments with different painting processes and subject matter by joining her carefully charted dream worlds with her lived experience and daily rituals. Portia Zvavahera expands her practice with familiar motifs and narratives; her works are populated by symbolic creatures that become powerful conduits for the interpretation of spiritual visions and the contemplation of our earthly existence. 

In her paintings, Portia Zvavahera gives form to emotions beyond the domains of everyday life and thought. Her vivid imagery is rooted in the cornerstones of our earthly existence—life and death, pain and pleasure, isolation and connection, and love and loss. These deeply personal visions are realized through layers of vibrant color and ornate, veil-like patterns that the artist builds up into palimpsestic surfaces through a combination of expressive brushwork and elaborate printmaking techniques. Zvavahera’s compositions draw on particular traditions of figuration in past and present Zimbabwe, first expressed in the work of Thomas Mukarobgwa in the 1960s, while also pointing to postwar artistic practices that probe the nature of the human condition.

Zvavahera’s latest exhibition powerfully continues this exploration of the human condition. Themes of love, loss, fear, family, and protection recur throughout this new series of paintings, mirroring her broader practice. The show title Zvibereko zvemweya wangu loosely translates from Shona as the “fruits of my soul,” aptly describing the intense creative output behind these works. These monumental paintings are among her most energetic to date, deeply inspired by her love for family and, particularly, the passing of her late grandmother. Here, Portia Zvavahera resumes her study of dreamscapes, delving into subject matter that women, especially mothers, have experienced across time. She strips away the protective veneer of modern society, exposing core emotions that relate to the profundity of life and death. Incorporating new motifs like vessels, trees, water lilies, and snakes, Zvavahera’s paintings guide viewers on journeys, telling abstracted stories about the strength within the maternal and matriarchal world, where reality and imagination merge.

Shona is the artist’s native language, which she speaks at home; titles in Shona are provided with a translation only when Portia Zvavahera feels that the English words suffice. Experimenting with batik and block printing, oil sticks, and acrylic paints, Zvavahera's canvases are applied with layers, and then, like dreams, unfold into camouflaged compositions rich in symbolism and psychological depth. Within Zvibereko zvemweya wangu, Portia Zvavahera portrays small figures, children unbound by the canvas and surrounded by protecting arms and feathered veils painted with leaves, using a traditional wax-resist batik method, in works such as Kubuditswa muhari (2025). Others like Kubudiswa (redeemed) (2025) show a series of bowing figures—a community seemingly praying as a form of collective strength, demonstrating their power in numbers.

Artist Portia Zvavahera

Portia Zvavahera was born in 1985 in Harare, Zimbabwe, where she currently lives and works. She studied at the BAT Visual Arts Studio, National Gallery of Zimbabwe, from 2003 to 2005. She then received a diploma in fine arts from Harare Polytechnic in 2006.

Portia Ndakaoneswa murima, the artist’s first solo presentation in New York and her second with the gallery, was on view at David Zwirner, New York, in 2021. Zvavahera’s first exhibition with the gallery, Ndakavata pasi ndikamutswa nekuti anonditsigira, was at its London location in 2020.

The artist has presented several solo exhibitions with Stevenson, Cape Town and Johannesburg (2014–2020), and a solo exhibition with Marc Foxx Gallery, Los Angeles (2017). The National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Harare, presented her solo exhibition Under My Skin in 2010, and in 2020, the Institute of Contemporary Art Indian Ocean, Port Louis, Mauritius, held her solo exhibition Walk of Life. She was invited to show her work as part of the Zimbabwean Pavilion exhibition Dudziro: Interrogating the Visions of Religious Beliefs at the 55th Venice Biennale in 2013. In 2022, her work was included in the 59th Venice Biennale.

In 2024, Kettle’s Yard, University of Cambridge, England, presented Portia Zvakazarurwa, a solo exhibition of the artist’s work organized in collaboration with Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh, where the show traveled in 2025. Curated by Tamar Garb, this exhibition marked Zvavahera’s first solo institutional presentation in the United Kingdom. Also in 2024, the Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris, presented Imba yerumbidzo (House of praise), as the fifteenth iteration of its Open Space solo exhibition series. The Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, opened Hidden Battles / Hondo dzakavanzika, Zvavahera's first institutional solo exhibition in the United States, in August 2025. The artist also opened her first solo institutional exhibition in Germany at Fridericianum, Kassel, on September 27, 2025.

DAVID ZWIRNER LOS ANGELES

616 N Western Avenue, Los Angeles, CA

www.davidzwirner.com

Africa Past, Present, and Future: Celebrating 65 Years of the MSU African Studies Center @ MSU Broad Art Museum & MSU Main Library, Michigan State University

Africa Past, Present, and Future 

Celebrating 65 Years of the MSU African Studies Center

MSU Broad Art Museum, East Lansing

Through January 18, 2026

MSU Main Library

Through December 19, 2025

Tijani Sitou 

See My Henna (Regardez-mon henne), 1983, printed 2006 

Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum, 

Michigan State University, purchase, 2009.41.2

In celebration of the 65th anniversary of Michigan State University’s African Studies Center (ASC), the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University (MSU Broad Art Museum), the MSU Museum, MSU Libraries, and the ASC have partnered on a series of exhibitions marking this milestone year. Africa Past, Present, and Future: Celebrating 65 Years of the MSU African Studies Center invites reflection on the power of collections and object-based learning to expand our understanding of global cultures and our place within them.

“The MSU Broad Art Museum and the ASC have enjoyed a longstanding partnership over the years, and it is our pleasure to shine a light on their important work during this momentous anniversary year,” commented Steven L. Bridges, senior curator and director of curatorial affairs at the MSU Broad Art Museum and co-curator of the project. “As part of the university’s commitment to working with different communities from the African continent, as exemplified by the work of the ASC, the Africana collections on campus and here at the MSU Broad Art Museum have grown to be some of the most important in the United States today. Through these objects we continue to advance teaching and learning at the university and within our wider communities, connecting different peoples and cultures across time and geographies.”

Drawn from the extensive Africana collections of the MSU Museum, MSU Broad Art Museum, and MSU Libraries, these exhibitions explore the University’s deep and evolving relationship with the African continent through art, artifacts, and archival materials. The exhibitions highlight how collections continue to support research, teaching, and public engagement around African cultures.

“These exhibitions are a tribute to the legacy and future of the African Studies Center, as well as to the powerful role that objects play in expanding our understanding of cultures across time and space," said Kurt Dewhurst, curator at the MSU Museum and co-curator of the project. “The MSU Museum is honored to contribute its collections and expertise to this meaningful celebration.”

The exhibitions include textiles, ceramics, carvings, and photographs, and are shaped by a broad team of curators and scholars, including representatives from the MSU Museum, MSU Broad Art Museum, MSU Libraries, and African Studies Center. Materials on view reflect MSU’s longstanding partnerships on the continent, including its foundational role in the establishment of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

“As we celebrate 65 years of the African Studies Center at MSU, we honor a legacy of transformative scholarship, partnership, and impact across Africa and right here in Michigan. It is a special honor to mark this milestone with exhibitions that build on our longstanding collaboration using art and cultural objects to teach about Africa’s diverse histories, peoples, and cultures,” remarked Leo Zulu, director of the African Studies Center. “This exhibition is not just a celebration of our past—it’s an invitation to imagine the future with us. I warmly invite everyone to visit, bring your families, and help spread the word, and I thank our partners at the MSU Museum, MSU Libraries, and the Broad for making this shared vision a reality.”

MSU BROAD ART MUSEUM

MSU MAIN LIBRARY

Michigan State University

broadmuseum.msu.edu

lib.msu.edu

Africa Past, Present, and Future: Celebrating 65 Years of the MSU African Studies Center

MSU Broad Art Museum, July 19, 2025 – January 18, 2026

MSU Main Library,  August 18, 2025 – December 29, 2025

Nigerian Modernism @ Tate Modern, London - This Major Exhibition traces the development of modern art in Nigeria with 50 artists and 250 artworks across 50 years

Nigerian Modernism 

Tate Modern, London

9 October 2025 - 11 May 2026

Uzo Egonu 

Stateless People an artist with beret, 1981

© The estate of Uzo Egonu. Private Collection

Ben Enwonwu

The Durbar of Eid-ul-Fitr, Kano, Nigeria, 1955

© Ben Enwonwu Foundation. Private Collection

Bruce Onobrakpeya,

The Last Supper, 1981

© Reserved. Tate Collection

Tate Modern presents the first UK exhibition to trace the development of modern art in Nigeria. Spanning a period from indirect colonial rule to national independence and beyond, Nigerian Modernism will celebrate an international network of artists who combined African and European traditions, creating a vibrant artistic legacy. The exhibition presents the work of over 50 artists across 50 years, from Ben Enwonwu to El Anatsui. They each responded to Nigeria’s evolving political and social landscape by challenging assumptions and imagining new futures, reclaiming Indigenous traditions to create a new African vision of Modernism. Featuring more than 250 works, including painting, sculpture, textile, ceramics and works on paper from institutions and private collections across Africa, Europe and the US, it offers a rare opportunity to encounter the creative forces who revolutionised modern art in Nigeria.

Nigerian Modernism - List of artists: Jonathan Adagogo Green, Tayo Adenaike, Jacob Afolabi, Adebisi Akanji, Justus D. Akeredolu, Jimo Akolo, El Anatsui, Chike C. Aniakor, Abayomi Barber, Georgina Beier, Alexander “Skunder” Boghossian, Jimoh Buraimoh, Avinash Chandra, Nike Davies-Okundaye, Ndidi Dike, Uzo Egonu, Ibrahim El-Salahi, Afi Ekong, Erhabor Emokpae, Ben Enwonwu, Sir Jacob Epstein, Clara Etso Ugbodaga-Ngu, Okpu Eze, Adebisi Fabunmi, Agboola Folarin, Buraimoh Gbadamosi, Sàngódáre Gbádégesin Àjàlá, Yusuf Grillo, Felix Idubor, Solomon Irein Wangboje, Ladi Kwali, Akinola Lasekan, Jacob Lawrence, Valente Malangatana, Naoko Matsubara, Demas Nwoko, Olu Oguibe, Rufus Ogundele, J.D Ojeikere, Emmanuel Okechukwu Odita, Simon Okeke, Uche Okeke, Olowe of Ise, Asiru Olatunde, Lamidi Olonade Fakeye, Oseloka Okwudili Osadebe, Aina Onabolu, Bruce Onobrakpeya, Ben Osawe, Muraina Oyelami, Ru van Rossem, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Gerard Sekoto, Twins Seven Seven, Ahmad Shibrain, F.N. Souza, Ada Udechukwu, Obiora Udechukwu, Etso Clara Ugbodaga-Ngu, Susanne Wenger.

Ben Enwonwu 

The Dancer (Agbogho Mmuo - Maiden Spirit Mask) 1962 

© Ben Enwonwu Foundation, 

courtesy Ben Uri Gallery & Museum

The exhibition begins in the 1940s amid calls for decolonisation across Africa and its diaspora. With the Nigerian education system under British governance, many artists trained in Britain, adopting European artistic techniques and witnessing Western modernism’s fixation on African art. The balance between Nigeria’s Indigenous traditions, colonial realities and calls for independence was evident in the practices of artists, many of whom became involved in arts education and reform. Aina Onabolu pioneered new figurative portraits of Lagos society figures, whilst Akinola Lasekan depicted scenes from Yoruba legends and history. Globally celebrated artists of the period, Ben Enwonwu and Ladi Kwali, combined their Western training with Nigerian visual art traditions. Drawing upon his knowledge of Igbo sculpture, Ben Enwonwu adapted his Slade School education to celebrate the beauty of Black and African culture. Meanwhile, Ladi Kwali who trained under British potter Michael Cardew at Pottery Training Centre in Abuja, developed a new style of ceramic art that synthesised traditional Gwarri techniques and European studio pottery.

Jimo Akolo 

Fulani Horsemen, 1962

© Reserved. Courtesy Bristol Museum and Art Gallery

Clara Etso Ugbodaga-Ngu

Elemu Yoruba Palm Wine Seller, 1963

© Clara Etso Ugbodaga-Ngu. Hampton University Museum

National independence on 1 October 1960 inspired a sense of optimism throughout the country, with artistic groups creating art for a new nation. The exhibition will look at the legacy of The Zaria Arts Society whose members included Uche Okeke, Demas Nwoko, Yusuf Grillo, Bruce Onobrakpeya and Jimo Akolo. Encouraged by teachers like Clara Etso Ugbodaga-Ngu, they developed independent creative styles centred around a concept of ‘Natural Synthesis’, merging Indigenous forms with modern expression. In the 1960s amid an economic boom, Lagos became a dynamic cultural hub, inspiring tropical modernist architecture, public art commissions and nightclubs filled with Highlife music. Meanwhile in Ibadan, The Mbari Artists’ and Writers’ Club founded by German publisher Ulli Beier, offered a discursive space run by an international group of artists, writers and dramatists including Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, and Malangatana Ngwenya. The Mbari Club was closely associated with the influential Pan-African modernist journal Black Orpheus, which will be displayed at Tate Modern.

During this period, many artists reflected on Nigeria’s rich cultural and religious heritage as home to more than 250 ethnic groups. The late 1950s saw the emergence of the New Sacred Art Movement, founded by Austrian born artist Susanne Wenger who drew on Yoruba deities and beliefs to explore the ritual power of art. The group led the restoration of the Osun-Osogbo Sacred Grove where ancient shrines were adorned with cement sculptures and carvings. In parallel, The Oshogbo Art School emerged out of series of influential workshops at Duro Ladipo’s Popular Bar providing a space for experimentation among untrained artists and performers including Nike Davies-Okundaye, Jacob Afolabi and Twins Seven Seven who explored Yoruba cultural identity and personal mythologies in their work.

Obiora Udechukwu 

Our Journey, 1993 

© Obiora Udechukwu. Hood Museum of Art

The outbreak of the Nigerian Civil War in 1967 caused a cultural and political crisis for many artists. The post-independence feeling of optimism and unity were replaced with division, and later a desire to reconnect across Nigeria’s diverse ethnic groups. The exhibition looks to the revival of ‘uli’ - linear Igbo designs which can be decorative or represent natural elements and everyday objects. Historically passed down between women, artists like Uche Okeke who had inherited this knowledge from his mother, and those from the Nsukka Art School including Obiora Udechukwu, Tayo Adenaike and Ndidi Dike, adapted this visual language as a modernist art form, reclaiming an element of ancestral culture and reflecting on the struggles of conflict during the war.

Uzo Egonu

Northern Nigerian Landscape, 1964

© The estate of Uzo Egonu. Tate

Uzo Egonu 

Women in Grief, 1968 

© The estate of Uzo Egonu. Tate

The exhibition ends with a spotlight on Uzo Egonu, exploring how artists towards the end of the 20th century began to respond to global Nigerian identities. Living in Britain since the 1940s, Uzo Egonu’s work was informed by his perspective as an expatriate, creating works imbued by his childhood memories and feelings of nostalgia, as well as his response to current events, observed from overseas. The exhibition brings together Uzo Egonu’s Stateless People paintings, the first time these works have been reunited in 40 years. Begun in 1980, the series reflects on questions of nationhood and cultural identity. Depicting a single figure in each painting - a musician, artist and writer - Uzo Egonu represents the growing visibility of Nigeria’s diaspora around the world. The series sums up the tension between national identity and artistic independence which shaped Nigeria’s story of modern art.

Nigerian Modernism is curated by Osei Bonsu, Curator, International Art, Tate Modern and Bilal Akkouche, Assistant Curator, International Art, Tate Modern.

TATE MODERN

Bankside, London SE1 9TG

www.tate.org.uk

Group Show @ Skoto Gallery, NYC. Artists including Uche Okeke, Lula Mae Blocton, Juliana Zevallos, Trokon Nagbe, Afi Nayo...

Group Show

Skoto Gallery, New York

May 29 – July 26, 2025

Afi Nayo, Ahmed Nosseir, Bernard Guillot, Bruce Onobrakpeya, Cathy Lebowitz, David Rich, Diako, Fathi Hassan, Katherine Taylor, Khalid Kodi, Lula Mae Blocton, Michael Marshall, Olu Amoda, Piniang, Rosemary Karuga SoHyun Bae, Sophie Leys, Trokon Nagbe, Uche Okeke, Wosene Kosrof, Juliana Zevallos 

Skoto Gallery presents Group Show, an exhibition that brings together works by a diverse group of established and emerging artists working in a variety of media including painting, drawing, photography and sculpture.

With a mix of abstraction and sensitive realism that combines technical accomplishment with strong aesthetic appeal, the artists in this exhibition work across different time-periods and styles. Each of the artists re-imagines history, inheritance and vast possibilities in their work through the lens of individual and collective experiences, offering fresh perspectives that reflect the complexities and realities of contemporary identity. Each artist utilizes a particular rigor and economy which encourages a clarity of intent and simplicity of execution.

Afi Nayo’s (b. 1969, Lome, Togo) work is intensely personal and displays a blend of fragility, modesty and refinement. She uses pyro gravure and mixed media technique on wood panel to create pictures that consist of fantastic dream images, wit and imagination as well as overtones of fantasy and satire. They are dense with sensual surfaces, formal rigors and color harmonies that demonstrate a playful openness to art historical influences, while simultaneously encouraging multiple layers of meanings. She uses a complex language of symbols and signs drawn from the unconscious to obtain a poetic amalgam of abstraction and reality. She presently divides her time between Paris, France and Lome, Togo.

Trokon Nagbe draws on themes of memory, migration, history and the passage of time through the filter of personal experience. Firmly rooted in a framework of references that reflect his African heritage, he strives to push the bounds of his aesthetic while exploring intricate, and often paradoxical, relationship between the material and the spiritual, collective and the individual identity as well as the interior and the exterior. The visual resonance in his work is undeniable, attesting to his ability to seamlessly fuse ancient and modern concepts and aesthetic on new and innovative modes of representation while still contesting the meanings of the post-modern encounter between tradition and modernity.

Juliana Zevallos uses a wide range of media including her background as a versatile printmaker to create complex and poetic works layered with meaning and surface texture where some overlapping forms are fully present while other forms are partially obscured. They are simple, serene and as mature as thought. Closely viewed, her work is an invitation for contemplation that strives to reconcile intelligence and sensibility, knowledge and intuition as well as matter and spirit.

Lula Mae Blocton is an African American artist and painter. Color is her passion. What she has been dealing with is the quality of color, looking at it and perceiving it as transparent. Throughout her career she has tried to identify herself through the use of color relationships and structure. Her work can be seen as specific stages of developing towards these goals. Lula’s early work consisted of overlapping geometric patterns creating transparent combinations of color, much like weaving cloth to create a pattern.

Uche Okeke (1933-2016) Renowned for his immense contribution to the development of modern Nigerian art and pioneering visual experimentations with traditional Igbo Uli mural and body design, Uche Okeke’s early drawings in graphite, charcoal or ink are pure meditations upon the nature of line itself. A master of lyrical and sensitive lines, he uses resplendent curves and fluid lines to convey the true harmonies of his artistic vision. His work is in several permanent collections including the National Gallery, Lagos, Nigeria, Museum of Modern Art, New York, Newark Museum, Newark, NJ; Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD; The High Museum, Atlanta, GA, Iwalewa Haus, Bayreuth, Germany. He was included in the exhibition Stranieri Ovunque-Foreigners Everywhere, curated by Adriano Pedrosa at the 2024 Venice Biennale, Venice Italy.

SKOTO GALLERY

529 W 20th Street, New York, NY, 100011

skotogallery.com

Africa Basel 2025 - African Contemporary Art Fair Highlights - Artists - Artworks - Galleries

Africa Basel 2025

African Contemporary Art Fair

Ackermannshof, Basel

June 18 - 22, 2025

Africa Basel makes its debut during Art Basel week in Basel, Switzerland, as a dedicated international art fair celebrating contemporary African art and its diaspora.

The Africa Basel Contemporary African Art Fair serves as an essential bridge, connecting artists to collectors, curators, and audiences. This dedicated fair provides a space where African art can be appreciated on its own terms, away from the reductive frameworks of "trends" or "bubbles." By creating a platform that champions quality, innovation, and context, Africa Basel will empower galleries to showcase the breadth of African artistic expression, ensuring long-term stability and recognition for the artists it represents.

Africa Basel is more than a marketplace; it is a meeting point for artists, galleries, collectors, and institutions alike who are shaping the future of contemporary African art. With a strong curatorial focus, the fair showcases a dynamic roster of exhibitors from across the continent and beyond, highlighting bold voices, fresh perspectives, and cross-cultural dialogues. As the first fair of its kind in Basel, Africa Basel offers a vital new stage for African artistic excellence within the global art calendar.

Africa Basel 2025

African Contemporary Art Fair

Galleries, Artists, Artworks Highlights

AKKA Project 

www.akkaproject.com

Founded in 2016, AKKA Project showcases contemporary African art across gallery spaces in Dubai, Venice, and Lugano. Dedicated to promoting African artists, the gallery hosts exhibitions, artist residencies, and cultural programmes. Its intimate spaces encourage diverse artistic practices and foster meaningful dialogue between artists and audiences.

Option Dzikamai Nyahunzvi

Ancestral Realm II, 2024

Courtesy of AKKA Project

Alexandre Kyungu Mwilambwe

Entassement II, 2024

Courtesy of AKKA Project

Osaru Obaseki

Full Bloom, 2023

Courtesy of AKKA Project

Africa First 

www.africafirst.art

Established by Serge Tiroche in 2017, Africa First supports emerging contemporary artists from Africa and its diaspora. Through private collections, residencies, exhibitions, and strategic partnerships, Africa First actively promotes artists and facilitates their international exposure, contributing to the development of their artistic careers.

Circle Art Gallery 

www.circleartgallery.com

Based in Nairobi, Circle Art Gallery has built a vibrant platform for Eastern African artists since 2015. Through exhibitions, international art fair participation, and annual auctions, the gallery enhances artist visibility and market sustainability. Its recent expansion into a larger space allows for more ambitious programming.

Souad Abdelrassoul

From the Womb of the Forest, 2024

Courtesy of Circle Art Gallery

Shabu Mwangi

Loathing in Silence, 2024

Courtesy of Circle Art Gallery

Dickens Otieno

Narok Wheat Fields, 2023

Courtesy of Circle Art Gallery

Tiemar Tegene

Portrait of Regret, 2024

Courtesy of Circle Art Gallery

Agnes Waruguru

The Sunlight Zone, 2024

Courtesy of Circle Art Gallery

Agnes Waruguru

Water Memories IV, 2022

Courtesy of Circle Art Gallery

First Floor Gallery Harare 

www.firstfloorgalleryharare.com 

Founded in 2009, First Floor Gallery Harare is Zimbabwe’s leading contemporary art gallery, dedicated to nurturing emerging artists and strengthening local art infrastructures. Through focused exhibitions and international collaboration, the gallery champions Zimbabwean contemporary art on the global stage.

Galerie Dix9 - Hélène Lacharmoise 

www.galeriedix9.com 

Founded in 2007 in Paris by Hélène Lacharmoise, Galerie Dix9 supports international contemporary artists working across various media, including performance and video art. Its exhibitions explore themes of identity, history, and cultural memory, fostering creative dialogue through partnerships with institutions and curators worldwide.

Kwama Frigaux

Untitled 3.6, 2023 

Blisters, peinture pour verre, agrafes

190 x 90cm 

Courtesy of Galerie Dix9

Kwama Frigaux

Untitled 5.6, 2023

Blisters, peinture pour verre, agrafes

190x86cm

Courtesy of Galerie Dix9

Gallery Brulhart

www.gallerybrulhart.com 

Gallery Brulhart focuses exclusively on contemporary art by African and Afro-descendant women artists. Established in 2021, it takes a feminist perspective in curating exhibitions that address identity, politics, and environmental issues, positioning art as a powerful tool for social discourse and transformation.

Taiye Idahor

Westbound (Wade in the water series), 2024

Courtesy of Gallery Brulhart

Gallery Soview 

www.gallerysoview.com 

Founded in 2019 and based in Accra, Gallery Soview showcases experimental and innovative contemporary African art. Its exhibitions connect Francophone and Anglophone cultures, promoting diverse perspectives and challenging traditional artistic boundaries to engage a new generation of collectors.

Dela Quarshie

Offering, 2023

Courtesy of Gallery Soview

Dela Quarshie

Red Morning, 2023

Courtesy of Gallery Soview

Dela Quarshie

Repression, 2023

Courtesy of Gallery Soview

Enoch Nii Amon Hammond

Solitude, 2024

Courtesy of Gallery Soview

Enoch Nii Amon Hammond

Waiting Bench, 2024

Courtesy of Gallery Soview

Enoch Nii Amon Hammond

Amon, 2024

Courtesy of Gallery Soview

La Galerie 38 

www.lagalerie38.com 

Founded in 2010 in Casablanca and now expanded to Marrakech and Geneva, La Galerie 38 promotes contemporary artists from Morocco and abroad. It serves as a cultural bridge, supporting established and emerging artists through curated exhibitions, international art fairs, and community engagement. 

Kendell Geers

Les Fleurs du Mal 1416, 2024

Courtesy of La Galerie 38

Kendell Geers

Twilight of The Idols 9399, 2012

Courtesy of La Galerie 38

Yacout Hamdouch

SansTitre, 2022

Courtesy of La Galerie 38

Barthélémy Toguo

Rêverie Marine VI, 2024

Photo © Fouad Maazouz

Courtesy of La Galerie 38

Barthélémy Toguo

Visites Marocaines 1, 2024

Photo © La Galerie 38 (2 sur 8)

Courtesy of La Galerie 38

Galerie Le Sud 

www.galerielesud.com 

Based in Zurich since 2006, Galerie Le Sud offers a signifi cant platform for contemporary African art in Europe. Supporting both emerging and established artists, the gallery fosters cross-cultural dialogue and contributes actively to the visibility of African creativity internationally.

Hako Hankson

Le poids des responsabilités, 2019

Courtesy of Galerie Le Sud

Joël Mpah Dooh 

Dear Mirror, 2016

Courtesy of Galerie Le Sud

Hamed Ouattara 

Bestiaire, 2009

Courtesy of Galerie Le Sud

LIS10 Gallery 

www.lis10gallery.com 

Founded in 2019 with locations in Milan, Arezzo, Paris, and soon Hong Kong, LIS10 Gallery promotes contemporary African artists through a robust programme of solo and group exhibitions. Its collaborations include notable international projects and participation in major art fairs, enhancing the global presence of its artists.

Aboudia

La famille noutchi réconciliée, 2022

Courtesy of LIS10 Gallery

Laetitia Ky

La grâce du desert, 2024

C-print, mounting on Diasec plexiglass satin, 

Edition of 5 + 2 AP

Courtesy of LIS10 Gallery

 

MCC Gallery 

www.mccgallery.art 

Founded in 2019 by Fatima-Zahra Bennani Bennis in Marrakech, MCC Gallery redefines Morocco’s contemporary art landscape. Initially dedicated to contemporary photography, it now embraces diverse artistic forms, connecting Moroccan artists with broader African and diaspora narratives.

Amine Asselman 

Crystalline II, 2025

Courtesy of MCC Gallery

Amine El Gotaibi 

Faille de laine, 2023

Courtesy of MCC Gallery

Mehdi-Georges Lahlou

La conférence des palmiers, 2022

Courtesy of MCC Gallery

Nubuke Foundation 

www.nubukefoundation.org 

Established in 2006, Nubuke Foundation is a central cultural hub in Ghana, dedicated to promoting visual arts and heritage through exhibitions, residencies, and community-focused programmes. With venues in Accra and Wa, it actively supports artists and engages diverse audiences.

Kwaku Dapaah Opoku

Nipadua (Polyptych), 2024

Courtesy of  Nubuke Foundation

Kwaku Dapaah Opoku

Nipadal, 2024

Courtesy of  Nubuke Foundation

Kwaku Dapaah Opoku

Nipa Dua, 2024

Courtesy of  Nubuke Foundation

October Gallery 

www.octobergallery.co.uk 

Founded in 1979, October Gallery presents outstanding contemporary art by internationally renowned artists such as El Anatsui, Rachid Koraïchi and Romuald Hazoumè. Serving as a cultural hub in London, the gallery regularly hosts lectures, performances and seminars.

October Gallery, London, participates in the debut edition of Africa Basel, 2025, with a presentation of striking works by international artists James Barnor, Eddy Kamuanga Ilunga, Alexis Peskine, Zana Masombuka, LR Vandy, Owusu-Ankomah and Xanthe Somers. The presentation comprises painting, sculpture, photography and vibrant ceramic works.

James Barnor

AGIP Calendar Model, 1974 

Digital silver gelatin fibre based print,

70 x 70 cm.

Edition of 10 plus 1 artist's proof 

© James Barnor

Courtesy the Artist and October Gallery, London 

Highlights include selected photographic works by renowned photographer James Barnor (HonsFRPS), whose masterful career has spanned more than six decades. Barnor’s wide-ranging portraits such as AGIP Calendar Model, 1974, depict the self-assurance and individualistic fashion trends that thrived both in London and Accra over time. His photographs of a newly-Independent Ghana and London are now recognised as an unparalleled, historic documentation.

James Barnor Born in 1929, Accra, Ghana

Barnor set up his first studio in Accra in 1953 and worked as the first photojournalist for the Daily Graphic before his career flourished with South Africa’s Drum magazine, the influential anti-apartheid lifestyle and politics journal. He moved to the UK, in 1959, to study photography at Medway College of Art, while continuing to work by photographing models of all nationalities for its covers. He returned to Ghana in 1969, as a representative for Agfa-Gevaert, to pioneer colour photographic processing, before returning to London in the 1980s. His work has been exhibited internationally; between 2010 and 2016 his monumental touring exhibition Ever Young with Autograph ABP, featuring new prints made from original, digitally preserved negatives, as well as vintage photographs from the late 1940s to early 1970s, toured the UK and USA. October Gallery first showed his work together with the Italian photographer Daniele Tamagni, in 2016. A major touring retrospective of his work opened at The Serpentine Gallery, London, in 2021 which travelled to MASI Lugano, Switzerland, and was shown at the Detroit Institute of Art, MI, USA in 2023. In 2022, the LUMA Foundation, Arles, France, presented James Barnor: Stories, Pictures from the Archive (1947-1987), curated by Matthieu Humery, Barnor’s first retrospective in France as part of Les Rencontres d’Arles’ annual Summer Photography Festival. In October 2023, James Barnor, Studio of Life opened at FOMU Antwerp, in Belgium.

 

Zana Masombuka

Nges’rhodlweni: eBandla 1, 2023

Giclée print on Hahnemühle FineArt Baryta 

325 gsm paper

84 x 56 cm / 97 x 69 cm (framed)

Edition of 8 plus 1 artist's proof 

© Zana Masombuka.

Courtesy the Artist and October Gallery, London

Photo: John Baloy and Bontle Juku

On show are signature photographic works by Zana Masombuka. In the series Nges’rhodlweni: A Portal for Black Joy, Zana Masombuka imagines what happens in the spirit world when ceremonies and rituals take place, creating a body of images which are rich with layers of meaning and symbolism. Nges’rhodlweni refers to a space within the Ndebele household where people of all ages gather to share in the communion of art, and to create an expression for the entire community. The overarching themes in Zana Masombuka’s captivating works explore how modernity impacts tradition and culture.

Zana Masombuka Born in 1995, Siyabuswa, South Africa

Masombuka’s work has been exhibited widely across Europe and South Africa, and her photographic series have made a distinct impact at 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair in London and New York. Zana Masombuka has recently collaborated with INFINIMENT COTY Paris, a high-end collection of 14 fragrances which was launched globally earlier this year by Coty Inc. Masombuka is currently working towards a solo presentation at the African Diaspora Art Museum of Atlanta (ADAMA), which is due to take place in Spring 2026. She has been a guest speaker on a variety of talk series, including Taste Makers Africa (Accra, 2020), Almanac Projects (London, UK, 2020), Sandberg Institute (Amsterdam, Netherlands, 2020), Bocconi University (Milan, Italy, 2022) and C-Change Festival (Mantova, Italy, 2022).

Alexis Peskine

Ebandeli, 2023

Purple Japanese oxidized silver leaf, nails,

black pigment and red hibiscus on wood,

120 x 120 cm.

© Alexis Peskine.

Courtesy the Artist and October Gallery, London.

Photo © Jonathan Greet

Large-scale mixed media ‘portraits’ are presented by Alexis Peskine. These dynamic pieces are rendered by hammering nails of different gauge, embellished with gold, Japanese oxidised silver or palladium leaf, with pin-point accuracy, into wood to create remarkable composite images. The individual figures he portrays represent the diversity of the African diaspora. By layering colours and materials, such as hibiscus, Alexis Peskine creates a complex visual narrative charged with the echoes of centuries of exploitation.

Alexis Peskine Born in 1979, Paris, France, of Afro-Brazilian/Russian descent

Alexis Peskine has been the recipient of many prestigious prizes including a Fulbright scholarship and Hennessy Black Masters Art Competition award. In the past decade, Peskine has worked with inner-city youth in France, Senegal and Brazil to create a number of monumental pieces. In 2013, Peskine started the Alexis Peskine Foundation, which aims to introduce young people from underprivileged backgrounds to the visual arts. His works were featured in the exhibition In Their Own Form at the Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago and Africa House’s Second Generation exhibition in New York, USA in 2018. The artist presented his work in Tiny Traces at the Foundling Museum, London, UK in 2022 – 2023. Peskine’s film, The Raft of Medusa, was exhibited in A Gateway To Possible Worlds, which brought together over 200 works at Centre Pompidou-Metz, Metz, France in 2022 – 2023. His work was included in the landmark exhibition Black Atlantic: Power, People, Resistance at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, UK in 2023 – 2024. Major museums and collectors including Peggy Cooper Cafritz; Laurence Graff OBE; the New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain, USA; The Harvard Art Fogg Museum, Cambridge, USA; Pizzuti Collection of the Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, USA; and Museum of Contemporary Photography (MoCP), Chicago, USA, have collected works by Alexis Peskine.

Recent paintings by Eddy Kamuanga Ilunga reflect the artist’s investigation into the seismic shifts in the economic, political and social identity of the Democratic Republic of Congo, that have taken place since colonialism. A vivid painting, Ces êtres à part (Those Other People), 2024, portrays the cost in human life that our demands for modern technology impose upon the unseen victims caught up in the consequences of industrial scale mining for coltan in the DRC.

Eddy Kamuanga Ilunga Born in 1991, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo. 

October Gallery, London, held Kamuanga Ilunga’s first solo exhibition in 2016, quickly followed by a second successful solo exhibition in 2018. In 2017, Kamuanga’s work was included in the exhibition African-Print Fashion Now! at the Fowler Museum, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA touring to Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Memphis, TN, and Mint Museum, Charlotte, NC, USA. In 2021, his work was chosen as the lead promotional image for the Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK, before a third successful solo exhibition, Ghost of the Present at October Gallery, London. In 2022, his work was exhibited in Fortitude: Resistance and Resilience in African Arts – Reimagining the People’s Collection, North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC, USA. A much acclaimed first monograph, Eddy Kamuanga Ilunga was published, in October, 2022, by Rizzoli International Publishing. Eddy Kamuanga’s work has been exhibited internationally at institutions including the Saatchi Gallery, London, UK; Kunsthaus Graz, Graz, Austria; Frist Art Museum, Nashville, TN, USA; Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, Birmingham, UK; the Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK and the Louvre Abu Dhabi, UAE. His work is in important private and public collections including: Private Collection Laurence Graff OBE; Zeitz Collection of Zeitz MOCAA, Cape Town, South Africa; the Hood Museum of Art, Hanover, USA; Pizzuti Collection of the Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, USA; the Norval Foundation, Cape Town and Scheryn Art Collection, Cape Town, South Africa.

Eddy Kamuanga Ilunga

Ces êtres à part (Those Other People), 2024.

Oil and acrylic on canvas, 180 x 207 cm.

© Eddy Kamuanga Ilunga

Courtesy the Artist and October Gallery, London 

Photo © Jonathan Greet

LR Vandy is represented by sculptural work. Her practice is based on the transformation of found objects, metal components and rope into a variety of artworks, from vibrant ‘masks’ made from model boat hulls to energetic sculptures that investigate the knotted histories of trade, power and gender. Bright, 2019, a ‘mask’ will be displayed from her signature Hull series. Vandy has an aptitude for elegantly revealing hidden histories; her works continually reference the multi-layered history and heritage of the African diaspora.

LR Vandy Born in 1958, Coventry, UK

In 2019, Vandy had her first solo exhibition, Hidden at October Gallery. In the same year, a large Jesmonite sculpture from the series Superhero Cog-Woman, acting as a tribute to women throughout time, was selected to be shown at Frieze Sculpture, Regents Park, London, UK. In 2023 for the third iteration of the International Slavery Museum’s MLK Pop Up series, Vandy was commissioned by National Museums Liverpool to create Dancing in Time: The Ties That Bind Us, a 5-meter-high sculpture on the Canning Dock in Liverpool. Inspired by her studio relocation next to the Ropery at Chatham Historic Dock Yard, Vandy has explored the properties of rope, as well as its symbolic and historical importance. Rope was her chosen material for her sculptures in the solo exhibition, Twist, presented at October Gallery in 2024. Vandy’s large-scale works are currently exhibited in the COLAB exhibition, Mary, Mary, at The Artist’s Garden, Temple Place, London until 3rd September, 2025.

LR Vandy

Bright, 2019 

Wood, plastic, metal, 36 x 10.5 x 11.5 cm.

© LR Vandy

Courtesy the Artist and October Gallery, London 

Photo © Jonathan Greet

Owusu-Ankomah’s distinctive paintings depict an alternate world wherein monumental human figures float and shift within an ocean of emblems that surround, support, and in fact, define them. Microcron - Kusum No.5, 2011, is a hypnotic lexicon of adinkra symbols, each representing a particular concept used by the Akan-speaking peoples of Ghana. In the same Akan language ‘kusum’ refers to sacred sites involved in the secret performances of mystery rites. The process by which these figures coexist and interact with various iconic and symbolic sets has developed through distinct phases over time, reflecting Owusu-Ankomah’s own journey of discovery.

Owusu-Ankomah Born in 1956, Sekondi, Ghana. Died in 2025, Sekondi, Ghana

Owusu-Ankomah’s, paintings were exhibited internationally in many European countries, including Germany and the UK, as well as in the USA, Cuba, Brazil, Senegal, South Africa and Japan. A selection of seminal exhibitions in which his work was shown include: from Absolute Ghana, Accra Contemporary Art (ACA), Accra, Ghana; and An Inside Story: African Art of our Time, which toured Japan in 1995/96; to the notable Africa Remix exhibition that toured Europe and beyond (2004-07) and helped to define the dramatic resurgence of African art at the dawn of the 21st century. He also collaborated with designer Giorgio Armani to develop a line of clothing for the Red Campaign, which raised awareness and money for the Global Fund to fight AIDS in Africa.

Owusu-Ankomah

Microcron - Kusum No.5, 2011.

Acrylic on canvas, 150 x 200 cm 

© Estate of Owusu-Ankomah

Courtesy Estate of Owusu-Ankomah

and October Gallery, London 

Photo © Joachim Fliegner

Other highlights include a ceramic artwork by Xanthe Somers whose practice is informed by post-colonial contexts, with reference to Zimbabwe, her country of birth. Somers’ intricate artworks are hand-coiled in traditional fashion before being disturbed by having their surfaces punctured, woven or enhanced with meticulously painted details. By knowingly combining excessive ornamentation with veiled political commentary, Xanthe Somers draws attention to women's work, exploitation of cheap labour and the impact of eco-racist practices throughout the Global South.

Xanthe Somers Born in 1992, Harare, Zimbabawe

Currently based in London, Xanthe Somers is a Zimbabwean ceramicist whose work is a critical reading of extraction economies and notions of domesticity within post-colonial contexts, with a particular lens focused on the country of her birth. Xanthe graduated from Michaelis School of Fine Art, UCT in 2015 and was subsequently awarded a grant to study MA Postcolonial Culture and Global Policy at Goldsmiths, University of London, which she completed with distinction, in 2020. Xanthe recently completed the GUILD artist residency for two months with Southern Guild in Cape Town, South Africa. Xanthe's work is held in many private collections as well as public institutions such as the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Xanthe's work has been published in The Times, The Telegraph, The Guardian, Ceramic Review, House and Garden UK and Elle Decoration UK. In 2024, Xanthe won the ANNA award for female African artists, presented by Latitudes.

Xanthe Somers

In the Fray, 2024

Glazed stoneware, 57 × 50 × 50 cm 

© Xanthe Somers 

Courtesy the Artist, Galerie Revel, Paris, and

October Gallery, London 

Photo by Deniz Guzel

The African Art Hub (TAAH) 

www.theafricanarthub.com 

Founded in 2021, The African Art Hub, a UK-based digital platform, promotes contemporary African art globally through curated exhibitions, partnerships, and participation in international art fairs. TAAH highlights the rich diversity of African narratives and their growing significance in global artistic discourse.

Ibrahim Bamidele

The change we have, 2024

Courtesy of The African Art Hub

Ibrahim Bamidele

Love in colours, 2023

Courtesy of The African Art Hub

Ibrahim Bamidele

Caregiver II, 2024

Courtesy of The African Art Hub

TGM Gallery 

www.tgmgallery.com 

Founded in 2021, TGM Gallery in Tunisia connects historical artistic legacies with contemporary practices. Championing the École de Tunis and emerging talents, the gallery fosters cultural dialogue locally and internationally through curated exhibitions and initiatives supporting young artists.

Hamadi Ben Saad

Cavemen, 2020

Courtesy of TGM Gallery

Najet Dhahbi

Benjamin's lover, 2024 

Courtesy of TGM Gallery

Adnene Hadj Sassi

Courtesy of TGM Gallery

Ahmed Stambouli

Personnage Clef, 2010

Courtesy of TGM Gallery

unx-art 

www.unx-art.com 

Founded in 2023 by Sarah and operating from Sierra Leone, Unx-Art emphasises local curatorial practices and digital outreach. Dedicated to amplifying African contemporary art, it actively connects artists with international collectors, expanding global appreciation for African creativity.

At Africa Basel 2025 unx-art presents a focused exhibition that speaks to its core mission: platforming contemporary African artists with care, context, and conviction.

“At unx-art, we believe Contemporary Art from Africa belongs at the center of global conversations—not as a trend, but as a force that reframes how we see the world. Africa Basel off ers the kind of thoughtful space where that can happen—with care, rigor, and intent.” --Sarah Hachi-Duchêne, Founder and Curator

 

Helen Nzete

Courtesy of UNX Art

Helen Ogochukwu Nzete (Nigeria)

A Nigerian artist trained in sculpture in Zaria, Nigeria and based in Abuja, brings a deeply introspective approach to form. Her work explores memory, resilience, and the quiet power of repair. A perceptive observer of social intricacies, Helen Nzete constructs a universe where personal experience and structural critique meet. Her mixed media practice, rooted in sculptural language, examines the psychology of character and the social dynamics that frame human interaction. Her recent series, The Year of Knots, is composed of plaster-and-rope reliefs that meditate on the bonds we inherit — and the possibility of gently unravelling them. Untying a knot becomes a gesture of healing: a movement toward clarity, forgiveness, and renewed connection. At Africa Basel 2025, unx-art presents Generosity of Spirit (2025), a key work from this series. A constellation of faces — some inward, others reaching — is cast in intimate relief. One, gilded in gold leaf, rises as a guiding presence, evoking what is passed on not only through lineage, but through care, conviction, and lived wisdom.

Helen Nzete

Generosity of Spirit, 2025

Courtesy of UNX Art

Helen Nzete

Generosity of Spirit,close-up, 2025

Courtesy of UNX Art

Helen Nzete

Generosity of Spirit, close-up, 2025

Courtesy of UNX Art

Helen Nzete

What we fear once again is the unknown, 2024

Courtesy of UNX Art

Clément Gbegno

Courtesy of UNX Art

Clément Ayikoué Gbegno (Togo)

Representative of the emerging art scene in Togo, Gbegno engages the thresholds between being and disappearance. Trained in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, and at the École des Beaux-Arts in Nantes, France, his trajectory was shaped early by a conscious and symbolic gesture: selling his ancestral land to pursue an artistic path. This act reflects a commitment to form and inquiry that underpins his work. His approach is grounded in the concept of décompositon–recomposition—a cycle of dissolution and renewal that informs both his material method and conceptual framework. For Clément Gbegno, forms are provisional, suspended within an evolving process of mutation. Using layered textures and a restrained chromatic palette, he renders visible what resists representation: traces, absences, and shifts between material and memory. Life and death are understood not as opposites but as successive stages in a continuum. At Africa Basel 2025, unx-art shows Glimmer of Hope, a mixed-media work in which two figures appear in a moment of fragile exchange—caught between persistence and release. The work invites contemplation without resolution, proposing an experience where presence is felt rather than declared.

Clément Ayikoue Gbegno

The Glimmer of Hope, 2024

Courtesy of UNX Art

Clément Ayikoue Gbegno

The Passing Down of Knowledge, 2024

Courtesy of UNX Art

 

Sarah Hachi-Duchêne

Founder & Curator

Courtesy of UNX Art

Sarah Hachi-Duchêne

unx-art was founded by Sarah Hachi-Duchêne, a long-time collector with roots in both technology and the arts. After four years in Nigeria and now based in Sierra Leone, she launched the platform to give Contemporary Art from Africa greater resonance in global dialogue—while challenging the monolithic narratives that often shape its reception. unx-art is rooted on the continent, driven by close artist relationships, and shaped through curatorial storytelling.

unx-art’s presence at Africa Basel 2025 is styled in collaboration with Africana Couture—a Pan-African brand grounded in craftsmanship and excellence, community and culture.

Modzi Arts Gallery 

www.modziarts.com 

Founded in 2019, Modzi Arts Gallery is an emerging voice in Zambia’s contemporary art scene. The gallery plays an active role in reshaping the local art market, supporting artists through studio practice, residencies, mentorship and exhibitions. Originally established as an experimental non-profit space, Modzi Arts is now shifting towards a more commercial model, aiming to provide a platform for underrepresented artists and foster global exchange.

Mwamba Chikwemba 

Lets Push, 2024

Courtesy of Modzi Arts Gallery

Natasha Evans 

The Recess Of Mind_2024

Courtesy of Modzi Arts Gallery

Africa Basel 2025

African Contemporary Art Fair

Founders

Africa Basel is the brainchild of serial art fair entrepreneur Sven Eisenhut-Hug and creative visionary Benjamin Füglister, both of whom are deeply embedded in Basel’s art scene. Sven Eisenhut-Hug brings a background in global hospitality, while Benjamin Füglister, a seasoned curator, has organized over 60 exhibitions worldwide, with a strong emphasis on African art.

Sven Eisenhut-Hug

Benjamin Fuglister

Africa Basel 2025

African Contemporary Art Fair

Curatorial Board

Africa Basel 2025

Curatorial Board comprising Azu Nwagbogu, 

Michèle Sandoz, Serge Tiroche, Greer Valley

AFRICA BASEL 2025

FIRST EDITION

Ackermannshof,

St. Johanns-Vorstadt 19/21, Basel, Switzerland

www.africabasel.com