For its 14th London edition, the 1-54 contemporary African Art Fair (until 18 October) extends its offer by unveiling an additional historical strand. For the first time, alongside the lively contemporary programme, the fair has introduced a spotlight devoted to Modern artists from Africa and its diaspora, both through curated stand presentations as well as a 1-54 Presents exhibition West Wind, featuring a generation of pioneering mid-20th century African artists and curated by the South African-Portuguese art historian and scholar Nancy Dantas. Among the fair’s Special Projects there is a presentation 50:50—Artists Africa of artists active from the 1840s until the 1980s, put together by the veteran African art collector Michael Graham-Stuart.
Institutional attention
The fair organisers feel that the launch of this new element responds to a wider surge of institutional attention towards African Modernism, as museums, scholars, exhibitions and biennials work to recover artists and movements too long left on the periphery of mainstream art history, with the 1-54 founding director Touria El Glaoui declaring: “This edition places African artists where they belong: as authors of Modern and contemporary art history.”
But contemporary voices also ring through loud and strong throughout, with a London flavour made evident in a number of projects such as the Moroccan-born Hassan Hajjaj’s My London Rockstars portraying a new generation of artists, musicians and designers shaping the city’s cultural landscape.
Also for the first time this year there is the institutional presence of London’s Whitechapel Gallery, which is presenting a selection of its new artist editions including those by Joy Labinjo, Veronica Ryan, Virginia Chihota, Joy Gregory and William Kentridge. These support the gallery’s philanthropic Errantry Fund, dedicated to supporting the representation of artists from the Global South and diasporas in the Whitechapel’s commissions and exhibitions.
• 1-54 Contemporary African art fair, Somerset House, London, until 18 October