The way in which art fairs are perceived in conversations that centralise the argument that the visual arts is not as important as other art forms is wide open for all sorts of arguments. One could argue that the views shared can be distorted for someone who has not been to any art fairs in Johannesburg, Cape Town or Miami. Luckily for many, who attend, the art fair in Cape Town are privileged to see the tone being set for what is to be expected from galleries, artists and curators, alike, in 2022. At the same time, we can also understand that as an artist creates in the midst of such an enormous puncture in our reality, the reigns of power, drastically change, bringing a new dawn of works. 

Cinthia Sifa Mulenga

No one could have prepared us for the rise of Cinthia Sifa Mulenga. She has continued from strength to strength. Her mixed media works of sensual images of black women, moving forward through their lives, navigating ‘beauty’ and its contradictions has catapulted Mulenga as a maverick in her own right. Unlike most creatives, her social presence is consistently showcasing her ability to engage multiple audiences and remain relevant to communities of a broad spectrum.

Black women remain active in her art – making, bestowing dignity, respect and substance for many to witness at this year’s fair. A debut showing at this year’s fair, Mulenga presents 3 works, in collaboration with Botho Project Space as well as Latitudes Online. Botho Project Space was created by Nelson Makamo in 2019, to provide a natural transition for artists such as Mulenga, who choose to create on their own terms. Mulenga, a young force has been absolutely certain of her trajectory and talent through their mentoring.

The investment value of Mulenga’s work is increasing with each exhibition, project and her participation in international shows, which Latitudes Online has enabled for close to 2 years. Mulenga’s works encourage the viewer to see the parallels in which she draws from, pursuing a narrative,unique to her own heritage, background and experiences.

Mavis Tauzeni

A masterful, magical combination of figurative and abstract painting imparted by Tauzeni cannot be missed in 2022. One is immediately captured by her use of colour surrounded by patterns of grand size. Not a single of Tauzeni’s pieces leaves you not desiring to surrender to a tone of a world with harmonious rapture.

The point of Tauzeni’s work is to denote much more than the technique, which may very well be an outstanding feature to also be one of the Cape Town Art Fair’s Tomorrow /Today Art Prize recipients, however it is also to marry enormous ideas of pleasure and freedom and also mourn many other parts of Zimbabwe’s unpredictable circumstances. A word that comes to mind while witnessing Tauzeni’s works is omniscient. Mavis Tauzeni is part of the artist roster for the Harare – based, First Floor Gallery.

Luyanda Zindela

It’s no surprise to see Zindela honouring narratives of safe spaces, friendships, kindred spirits and times that represent kin when moments require such bonds. Much of Lindela’s body of work is steeped in memory and archiving the messages from encounters he has had with his peers. A Sepedi reference to this kind of creation would be the word, “Thake”, denoting someone who can be or is your peer. Life takes shape and is real within the margins of conversations with those we choose to be family and that is something Zindela does so well in his work. The artist is at ease with the people he profiles, capturing each and every comment, without fail..

As a curator and an artist, Zindela references his friends to enter a space of unadulterated territory, taunting the viewer to interrogate the ways in which they measure the depth of each conversation they are able to have with their own “people’. How real are these conversations? What is the main purpose of the conversations? Do they ever become more than just conversations? And when can it be that these conversions become reality? In 2021, Zindela had his solo show at SMAC Gallery and continues to be part of the artist roster. 

Investec Cape Town Art Fair

18 < 20 February 2022

CTICC, Cape Town (South Africa)

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This year, EPI features 17 finalists from 8 African countries. Due to travel restrictions across Africa, the 2020 edition will be taking place from the 12th to the 19th of October 2020 as an online exhibition project supported by a programme of talks, studio visits and interactions. The EPI winners will be announced on the 19th of October with the first prize sponsored by South Africa’s leading auction house Strauss & co and additional cash, residency and exhibition prizes awarded with support from the Emerging African Art Galleries Association members.

Works of the finalists will also be presented by Strauss & co as a special session in their October online auction which opens 12th of October and closes at 8.00 pm on the 19th of October 2020.

Finalists are: 

Agnes Waruguru (Kenya); Dorra Mahjoubi (Tunisia); Elias Mung’ora (Kenya); Emna Kahouaji (Tunisia); Eyasu Telayneh (Ethiopia); George Masarira (Zimbabwe); Kirubel Abebe (Ethiopia); Kylie Wentzel (South Africa); Lincoln Mwangi (Kenya); Lwando Dlamini (South Africa); Peteros Ndunde ( Kenya); Sejiro Avoseh (Nigeria); Selome Muleta (Ethiopia); Willy Karekezi (Rwanda); Tashinga Majiri (Zimbabwe); Thebe Phetogo (Botswana); Yolanda Mazwana (South Africa)

“While contemporary African art has been on the rise internationally, developing skills and engaging the international art world is still a challenge for many young painters on the continent” says Valerie Kabov, EAAGA Chair. “EPI intends to help motivate, support and develop the practices and careers of young African visual artists. Supporting emerging painters is not just enormously significant culturally, it is to ensure the economic sustainability of local art sectors. EPI was developed with a holistic vision for art on the continent”.

Three Women Artists As Jurors for EPI 2020

This year, three remarkable women artists are designed as Jurors for EPI 2020: Dorothy Amenuke, sculptor and lecturer at the Department of Painting and Sculpture of the Faculty of Fine Art, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) (Kumasi, Ghana), Amel Bennys a painter and sculptor, based in Tunis and Paris, Tunisia and Florine Demosthene, a painter who is based between Accra, Haiti and New York.

This year’s Juror Amel Bennys notes that the value of EPI as a project is to enable artists: “Not to be trapped in a stereotype that critics, curators, and others in the art world, non-African, even African, expect from us, us African artists or of African origin.” Dorothy Amenuke adds that the pan-African nature of EPI is a way of ‘Nurturing what is your “own” inadvertently implies building “the Self” for the sake of “the Whole”!!! EPI 2019 Juror Maja Maljevic states “EPI is an excellent forward thinking initiative. The future of art, and especially painting, from the continent deserve to take their rightful place on the international stage”

Speaking about their experiences, 2019 EPI winners had the following to say:

“I am very happy not just for myself but also to represent emerging artists in Mozambique. The group of artists I met through EPI are now part of my community of peers and this is wonderful. I have also met a lot of professional supporters and fans of my work, which is important for my career going forward and my artistic practice”(Nelly Guambe, Mozambique, 1^st prize).

“The experience was informative in the sense of mixing with different cultures and ideologies behind the work production processes. Winning the second prize is most important for the opportunity which comes with it, to improve my production and production space” (Epheas Maposa, Zimbabwe, 2^nd prize).

“It’s a great honour to be the third prize winner among these amazing talented artists.  I observe that all finalists have their own unique styles and deep potentials. It has been a pleasure to meet them and to have useful conversations with them. I want to acknowledge all the EPI team and artists for your true hospitality, sharing,  experiences and the great exposure you create for all of us!”(Surafel Amare, Ethiopia, 3^rd prize).

To be eligible for EPI, artists must be under 30 years old, living and working on the continent, and have painting as their primary discipline. On the EPI committee are included:  Gilles Dusabe (Kigali), Elia Gemuce (Arte de Gema, Maputo), Valerie Kabov (First Floor Gallery Harare, Harare), Daudi Karungi (Afriart, Kampala), Dominick A. Maia Tanner (Espaço Luanda Arte, Luanda), Sonia Ribeiro (THIS IS NOT A WHITE CUBE, Luanda), Marc Stanes (Ebony Curated, Cape Town), Julie Taylor (Guns & Rain, Johannesburg), Janire Bilbao (Movart, Luanda), Robel Temesgen (Lecturer, Fine Arts, University of Addis Ababa), MJ Turpin (Kalashnikovv, Johannesburg), and EPI 2019 Finalists.

Sponsors for the second edition of EPI are Strauss & Co, Art Africa Magazine, Emerging Africa Art Galleries Association, Pro Helvetia Johannesburg/Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), The African Arts Trust, First Floor Gallery Harare, Artfundi, Kalashnikovv Gallery, Angola Air, Guns & Rain.

For further information please contact Valerie Kabov

eaaga2016@gmail.com

www.emergingpaintinginvitational.com

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Many will agree that some of the most interesting art flourishes during difficult times. Art, in the midst of upheaval, often becomes a necessity. It is a way to express anger, frustration and critique society. As the world continues to be ravaged by Covid-19, art is the battle sword for hope.

The African continent, while late to the Covid-19 outbreak, is one of the world’s most vulnerable regions to the virus. On April 7 the World Health Organization (WHO) stated that the number of Covid-19 cases had now risen to more than 10,000, claiming more than 500 lives on the African continent. Coronavirus, while slow to reach Africa, has grown exponentially. A total of 52 countries have reported cases, with the nations of South Sudan and Zimbabwe most at risk, the statement read. As a result, several African nations went into various degrees of lockdown from the end of March.

As health experts warn, Covid-19 in Africa has the potential not only to cause thousands of deaths, but also to foster economic and social devastation. What happens then to the African art market that has been thriving in recent years, booming as many would say? How are galleries, institutions and artists adapting to current the zeitgeist, however temporary?

Tactics For Survival

While larger, more established galleries on the continent have more means to weather out the socio-economic storm inflicted by Covid-19, smaller galleries are finding it more difficult. “Survival is a huge concern,” said founder of Circle Art Gallery in Nairobi Danda Jaroljmek. “I don’t know how many small galleries will survive if this goes on for over three months. The loss of income from walk-in clients, art fair sales and the cancellation of exhibitions—I don’t know how we will survive if it goes on too long,” she added. “Circle has six full- time staff, including our driver and cleaner, myself, the gallery manager, administrator and accountant who are all receiving full salaries and are reliant on the money.” 

However, younger and smaller-sized galleries like South African Guns & Rain are better equipped due to their already expansive digital platform. “Interestingly, Guns & Rain started as an online-only gallery back in 2014, one of the first to do so in Africa,” said owner Julie Taylor. “So, the prospect of being online-only is perhaps less daunting for us than other galleries, even though we now have a physical space in Johannesburg too.”

The ones who are most vulnerable are the younger artists and gallery staff. While some galleries have no choice but to make cuts, others have ramped up their support. “Ahead of our regional lockdowns, we acted fast to order materials for our artists in Zimbabwe and Namibia, so that they would have enough to work with in the coming weeks,” added Taylor. “Similarly, despite modest budgets, we made advances to our small staff and some artists so that they could buy materials and food ahead of lockdown.” Like other spaces, Taylor said speaking regularly via video calls is not only vital to keep the gallery functioning and the work selling, but also “for combating the isolation and anxiety that the pandemic is creating.”

Africa: Always A Rough Terrain

Yet Africa, with its ongoing political tensions and socio-economic issues, its remnants of centuries of colonialism haunting the establishment of present day structures, has always been a challenging terrain to navigate. Many artists and gallerists say they are accustomed to working under challenging conditions. The current lockdown for many has not proved to be as shocking as it has for its western or more “developed” counterparts.

“I take issue with the phrase ‘not much support, and means for hope,” said Valerie Kabov, Director, First Floor Gallery in Harare, Zimbabwe. “There is a tendency to always see Africa as a space for disaster and hopelessness. On the contrary, we are in fact in a space of innovation and much better positioned to address radical new circumstances than art sectors of the developed world.”

“We are not burdened by heavy operation costs, legacy infrastructure and burdens of over-regulation and conservatism of the older generation which makes implementation of new ideas difficult,” she continues. “Most of us in Africa have started galleries in impossible situations and in impossible environments, so the notion that we don’t have means for hope is entirely untrue.” Kabov, like other galleries on the African continent, wishes now that galleries to operate as collective organizations rather than as merely profit-oriented businesses. “We are able to call on all the resources in the organization to help implement projects of support and to effect projects of support,” she adds. “This includes using our resources to provide subsistence income, where necessary, medical care, transport and art materials.”

A Growing Lack Of Resources

But what happens when resources are scarce? Picha, an art center run by a group of artists based in Lubumbashi, DRC, is now closed. The organization supported the Lubumbashi Biennale in 2008 and was also behind the most recent one which culminated in November 2019. “We are trying to reinvent ourselves digitally very quickly,” said Gabriele Salmi, a member of Picha. “Many of the artists are suffering and many are finding it hard to put together one meal per day right now. We are all joining hands to help each other and provide food.”

As of March 26, authorities in DRC closed air, land, sea and ports nationwide. Public gatherings were banned and markets, bars and restaurants are to remain closed until further notice. Most schools and universities will remain closed through at least April 17. Most recently, on April 6, authorities imposed a lockdown in the Gombe municipality of Kinshasa until April 20. Nearly all of the infections, 267 and 22 deaths, have occurred in the country’s capital of Kinshasa.

In South Africa, Johann Rupert launched the Sukama Relief Program, a R1bn ($55,526,948) Covid-19 relief fund. Artists registered as businesses were eligible to apply. However, on April 7, it was announced that the fund would be closed temporarily after receiving R2.8bn in applications. It still has yet to be proven how many South Africans are benefitting from the program and as of yet, there are no wide-sweeping funds or loans to help the arts community in South Africa.

Art Never Stops

On the artist front there’s no doubt that artists will continue creating their work. The problem lies in how they will sell and via what means? For a new market, one that has peaked the interests of collectors in Europe and North America and that has as well a growing group of collectors on the continent itself, the socio-economic effects for the young African art scene could be devastating.

“The African art scene is very much continuing but from home,” said Oumy Diaw, a PR specialist based in Dakar, Senegal. “Of course, there’s a bit less of a buzz. Digital now is the new art tool. Everyone is online now,” she continues. “We see more artists posting their work online which is great because before artists from Senegal were dependent on exhibitions or gallery semi-representation ¹and now, they are doing it on their own. Many artists are producing new work while in confinement. It’s a time for them to concentrate all their efforts on their art. The good news is that we will have more art that will come out of this. Some artists have even created artwork inspired by Covid-19 health crisis.”

Inspired by the current situation where abandoned street scenes are now the normal sight in typically overcrowded African city centers, Senegalese artist Fally Sene Sow, one of the artists selected for Dak’Art, has been making expressionistic paintings of empty streets in disarray, with their vibrantly colored awnings now starkly in view.

The big event on the horizon was the 14th edition of the Dakar Biennale, Africa’s oldest and most prestigious art biennale scheduled to take place from 28 May to 28 June and now postponed until the end of the year, with the dates still to be decided.

At midnight on March 23 Senegal’s President Macky Sall instituted a curfew from 8pm until 6am for 30 days, shutting down all shops and businesses operating in the country, and halted all commercial passenger flights until April 17. Senegal, along with Gambia, closed their borders for 21 days to contain the spread of the virus. Nigerian-American painter Kehinde Wiley’s first Black Rock Residency, which kicked off in June 2019 and runs until April 2020 in Dakar, continues. However, the last artist that was supposed to arrive one week ago was unable to and a Nigerian writer in the residency will need to stay on until flights reopen.

“Everyone who enters into the compound has to wear the mask and be clean,” said Zohra Opoku, a Ghanaian-German artist in the residency. “We are under curfew so need to be back by 8pm. We hope this won’t go on longer than two weeks because we were looking forward to discovering more of Dakar and Senegal. But even though we are on lockdown I have to remind myself how grateful I am to have this studio.”

* First work in the slideshow in the article is a work by artist Zohra Opoku, One of Me I, 2017. Courtesy of the artist and Mariane Ibrahim gallery.

**Second work in the slideshow in the article is a work by Tahir Karmali, Paradise #2, 2019. Acrylic screen print on organic natural dip-dyed canvas. 167.6 x 99.1 cmCourtesy of the artist and Circle Art gallery.

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