This free HENI Project Space exhibition explores home, intimacy, place and belonging in the work of late South African photographer Thabiso Sekgala. Here Is Elsewhere – Sekgala’s first solo exhibition in the UK – brings together 50 photographs from six different series taken between 2009 and 2014 in South Africa, Jordan and Germany.  

Many of Sekgala’s photographs – which include portraits, street scenes and elegiac depictions of public and domestic space – offer nuanced, alternative narratives about life in contemporary Africa. Running through all of his work is a fascination with the idea of home, and the personal, political or economic conditions that determine our relationship to it.   At the centre of Here Is Elsewhere are photographs from Sekgala’s early, career-defining Homeland (2009 – 2011), a series that saw the artist document life in two former homelands – territories established by the Apartheid government to house black South Africans forced to leave urban areas.

These images are accompanied by photographs from Second Transition (2012), a series that explores the relationship between the area’s platinum mines and the workers who live on the land, as well as Running, Amman (2013) and Paradise (2013), series made during periods spent in Amman and Berlin.

THABISO SEKGALA

Thabiso Sekgala (b. 1981 in Johannesburg, South Africa) was a photographer whose work explored themes of abandonment, memory, spatial politics and concept of home.

“In photography I am inspired by looking at human experience whether lived or imagined,’ Sekgala once expressed. ‘Images capture our history and who we are, our presence and absence. Growing up in both rural and urban South Africa influences my work. The dualities of these both environments inform the stories I am telling through my photographs, by engaging issues around land, peoples’ movement, identity and the notion of home.” Thabiso Sekgala

He studied at Johannesburg’s Market Photo Workshop from 2007 to 2008 and was awarded the Tierney Fellowship in 2010. The artist held solo exhibitions in South Africa and Europe and has exhibited in group shows internationally, including LagosPhoto Festival (2015), Bamako Biennale (2015) and Les Rencontres D’Arles (2013). In 2013, he was an artist in residence at both the Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, and at HIWAR/Durant Al Funun, Jordan. Sekgala died in Johannesburg in 2014.

Thabiso Sekgala: Here Is Elsewhere
28 AUG – 6 OCT 2019
HENI Project Space, Hayward Gallery

Southbank Centre, 337-338 Belvedere Rd, Lambeth, London SE1 8XX, UK

Opening times
11am – 7pm every day except Tuesdays when the gallery is closed. Late night opening on Thursdays until 9pm.

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Engaging in issues of water scarcity and ecological emergency, artist/photographer Aida Muluneh presents, with support from the H&M Foundation, a new series of 12 work commissioned by Wateraid. Exploring ideas of representation , gender and social justice through an Afrofuturist tableaux of twelve, large-scale images shot in Ethiopia, the powerful work builds on Somerset House’s ongoing strand of environmental themed programming.

The project emerged from a dialogue about the role of art in advocacy, the issues of water and sanitation and how Africa is represented by aid organizations and in global media.This autumnal exhibition follows a previous show “Water Life” that is actually displaying  at David Krut Projects‘s space in New York until June 14th 2019. Half of all gallery sales will benefit WaterAid.

“My main goal in building this collection is to address the issues caused by a lack of access to water, and the impact which that has not only on a society as a whole, but on women, particularly in rural regions. For those of us who live in cities, it’s easy to take for granted the privilege of access to water – while those living beyond the city grid often encounter challenges that not only impact their health, but also their ability to contribute to the development of their communities.

Each piece addresses the impact of water access as it relates to issues like women’s liberation, health, sanitation and education. While travelling across Ethiopia for my work, I often encounter streams of women traveling on foot and carrying heavy burdens of water. I have understood that women spend a great deal of time fetching water for the household, which has an adverse effect on the progress of women in our society. We cannot refute that it is mainly women who bear responsibility for collecting water, a burden that has great consequences for our future and the development of our nation.

Hence, supporting access to water in rural regions in Africa is an urgent social issue, as well as an essential determining factor in the self-sustainability of a community. I have chosen to create a few of these pieces in Dallol, Afar, Ethiopia – an extreme landscape that places emphasis on the message I am transmitting. The world is continually bombarded with images of the social plight of Africa; therefore my focus in this project was to address these topics without the cliché that we see in mainstream media. In a sense, to advocate through art.” – Aida Muluneh, Addis Ababa

Somerset House
WATER LIFE BY AIDA MULUNEH
24 September – 20 October 2019
Great Arch Hall, South Wing, Free
Sponsored by H&M Foundation

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In her first solo exhibition in the UK, at Somerset House and in partnership with 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair, Mary Sibande presents a series of photographic and sculptural works exploring the power of imagination and constructive anger in shaping identities and personal narratives in a post-colonial world.

I Came Apart at the Seams follows the transformative journey of Sibande’s avatar, Sophie. Taking form as a series of colourful human-scale sculptures modelled on Sibande herself, Sophie transgresses from her humble beginnings as a domestic housemaid into myriad empowered characters, transcending racial bias and marginalisation. Iterations of these striking installations are also captured in vibrant large-scale photography, documenting Sophie’s journey.

Through these works, Sibande pays homage to the generations of women in her family who worked as domestic labourers. In sharing their previously untold stories, Sibande challenges stereotypical depictions of Black women in post-apartheid South Africa throughout history and today.

 

Mary Sibande – I Came Apart at the Seams
3 October – 5 January 2020
Somerset House
Strand
London
WC2R 1LA

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Beneath the surface : the mysteries of Living of Dying

Merikokeb Berhanu (b.1977) creates an aloof, almost subterranean atmosphere in her paintings. An array of life bearing forms, such as orange seed pods, embryos, fallopian tubes, and pulsing cells, appear set against a vibrant coloured background of predominately intense blues and greens, forming surreal yet earthly structures.

Merikokeb makes much of the vertical ascent of saplings, plants bursting through the surface, as well as the forces that resist and suppress their efforts. Both growth and decay appear in equal measure: a flower climbs through a dense rock, if only to blossom and droop into the appreciative embrace of an exhausted and bonelike human figure. Her work at once appears to be a celebration of these life-bearing forms, as well as something more decidedly complex – in her words,

“The life that we are passing through. The light, line, the complexity and density of what surrounds us, the thick fog and smoke, happiness and hope, misery and bliss.”

She deeply communicates the visual equivalent of her feelings and thoughts, wanting the viewer to “hear” the images through their own visual power.

Merikokeb was born in Addis Ababa, where she attended the Addis Ababa University Fine Arts and Design School. She graduated in 2002 with a focus on mural design. Engaging with a long and deeply rooted tradition of Ethiopian painting, Merikokeb’s works feature abstract forms and dense backgrounds, which interact with recurring organic symbols. Informed by the physical structures of Addis Ababa as well as the artist’s psychological musings, the rich imagery within these works renders a complex understanding of contemporary personal and collective life through all-encompassing, complex compositions.

She currently lives and works in Maryland, USA. She previously worked from the Nubia studio, which she set up with a group of fellow artists. Nubia studio is a dynamic cultural centre and studio space in the heart of Addis Ababa. Her work has been shown at numerous exhibitions, including solo exhibitions at the Ethiopian National Museum (2011), RedHill Art Gallery, Nairobi (2015) and Addis Fine Art Gallery (2016). Her group showings include the 1.54 African Art Fair, London (2016, 2015), Art of Ethiopia, Sheraton Addis, Addis Ababa (2010, 2011, 2012, 2013), Art Lab Africa, Cape Town Art Fair, Cape Town (2017, 2015), My Self Portrait, Asni Gallery, Addis Ababa (2011), and Ashara, Laphto Gallery, Addis Ababa (2013).

Founded by Rakeb Sile and Mesai Haileleul, Addis Fine Art is a pioneering gallery based in Addis Ababa and London. The very first local space and international platform based in Ethiopia, the gallery focuses on highlighting modern and contemporary fine art from the Horn of Africa region and its diasporas.

January 2016 saw the opening of the gallery’s main space in the heart of Addis Ababa, launching its innovative programme of exhibitions, talks and events, showing a diverse set of modern and contemporary artists. In October 2016, the AFA Project Space was opened in London, to provide an additional international platform to the gallery’s programme. Soon, the London programme will move to Cromwell Place, a first-of-its-kind exhibition space in Kensington, London. Addis Fine Art has quickly become one of the leading galleries from Africa, facilitating critical engagement with the local and mainstream art markets, championing an underrepresented, yet rich space in modern and contemporary fine art.

Beneath the surface :Tthe Mysteries of Living of Dying
Merikokeb Berhanu’s second solo exhibition with the gallery

Opening on Tuesday 23 April from 6 – 9 PM
View from 24 April to 11 May 2019, Tues – Sun 12 – 6 PM
At the Addis Fine Art Project Space
Tafeta, 47 – 50 Margaret Street
London, W1W 8SB, UK
https://addisfineart.com/

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HAART was founded in 2018 by British-Nigerian lawyer Maryam Lawal, who has had a life-long passion for the arts with a particular focus on artwork from the African continent. Primarily inspired by the burgeoning art scene in Lagos, Nigeria, Lawal aims to give artists from the continent and the diaspora a platform for their work, providing them with greater support and wider recognition. HAART allows collectors to purchase works from early career artists and currently works with artists originating from Nigeria, Ghana and the Ivory Coast.

HAART’s inaugural exhibition will take place from 21 to 26 March 2019 in London. Exhibiting artists include: Àsìkò; Aurélia Durand; John Madu; Kojo Marfo; and Emmanuel Unaji. The exhibition will be a celebration of fresh, new perspectives on artistic talent coming from the continent and a resistance to the stereotypical characterization of works by artists from the African continent as restricted to telling narratives relating to struggle and hardship.

Àsìkò is a visual artist who expresses his ideas through the medium of photography and mixed media. He was born in London, England, spending his formative years in Lagos, Nigeria and adolescence in London. His work is constructed in the narrative that straddles fantasy and reality as a response to his experiences of identity, culture and heritage.

Aurélia Durand is an Ivorian-French graphic artist based in Copenhagen, Denmark. Her upbringing in Réunion Island shaped her interests in representing the power and beauty of multi-culturalism. Her varied cultural background compelled Durand to produce art which celebrates culturally diverse and nuanced stories. Her recent works are characterised by “Afro-pop” culture, in which men and women proudly display Afro hair and braids with colourful African prints and edgy fashion accessories.

John Madu is a multidisciplinary artist based in Lagos, Nigeria, whose practice includes painting, collage and design. Many of Madu’s paintings experiment with with fierce brushstrokes of contrasting, often non-realistic colours for his characters. Inspired by pop culture, African contemporary art and surrealism, Madu often paints metaphorical subjects drawing on literature, myths, and his own life experiences.

Kojo Marfo is a Ghanaian artist based in London inspired by an upbringing surrounded by traditional African artifacts. His vibrant works juxtapose visions from his childhood with a current narrative, as a part of his constant drive to grow and evolve authentically. His work has been exhibited internationally in Paris, Tokyo, Amsterdam, New York, Barcelona, and London.

Emmanuel Unaji is a multimedia artist of Nigerian origin, based in London. Combining painting, drawing, collage and fashion design, Unaji’s style is rebellious and bold. Inspired by the fashion industry, Unaji frequently uses fragments of magazine photographs to which he adds painted, drawn or sculpted elements. Blurring the boundaries between fine art and fashion design, he combines mixed media works with other practices to create wearable art in addition to traditional paintings and portraits.

HAART – House of African Art 

Inaugural exhibition 21 – 26 March 2019

Launch Dates
Thursday 21st March – 10am-6pm (previews). 6pm-11pm (opening night).
Friday 22 & Saturday 23rd March – 10am-11pm
Sunday 24th & Monday 25th March – 10am-8pm
Tuesday 26 March – 10am-2pm

Venue Address
Hoxton Arches
402 Cremer Street
London E2 8HD

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Over the past six years, Fair 1-54 (because there are 54 states in Africa) has grown with the market it promotes. Today, its growth strategy seems to be paying off with a successful London edition.

Three trees from Ibrahim El-Salahi welcomed visitors this year to London’s Somerset House for the sixth edition of 1-54, one of the leading fairs in the promotion and recognition of African art and its diaspora. Three trees, as a sign of majesty and growth….

In the aisles, a selection selected from about forty galleries and nearly 130 artists. Remarkably, nearly a quarter of the exhibitors had the audacity to present solo shows. Omar Ba was shown by Art Bärtschi & Cie, who started selling the artist while he was attending the squats in Geneva. As time has passed… In the autumn, Omar Ba opened his second solo exhibition at Templon (Paris). There were also the beautiful projects of Wonga Mancoba for the Mikael Anderson gallery and of the photographer Youssef Nabil for Nathalie Obadia. In all, 18,000 visitors hurried to visit the fair, and not the least, since we saw in its aisles leading institutions, including the curators of the LACMA or the Vuitton Foundation, very attentive to what is happening on the African stages.

On the sales side, this new edition confirmed that contemporary African art is booming. Some, those who remain sceptical, see it as a fashionable phenomenon. More and more, the rating and recognition of African artists is taking on an air of renewal rather than market “ tocade ” – and this is deepening with the structuring of domestic scenes on the continent, as it is the case in Morocco, South Africa and Niger. “The growth and popularity of the fair is a true testimony to the abandonment of Eurocentric art history stories,” observes Touria El Glaoui, the organizer and creator of 1-54.

There have been many acquisitions and, remarkably, it is still possible to shop cheaply. At 1-54, the pieces of many artists are sold for less than $5,000: Soly Cissé at Sulger-Buel Lovell, Màrio Macilau at Ed Cross fine art, Mohamed Lekleti’s drawings at Loft Art Gallery, Mongezi Ncaphayi’s abstractions at SMAC or Zemba Luzamba’s portraits, which worked well. The market still prefers these inexpensive pieces, whether for first-time collectors or for the most experienced, especially when they are so trendy.

At the end of the fair, Touria El Glaoui was radiant. “We are so proud of the journey we have made since our first fair in London in 2013. With our first edition in Marrakech last February and the fourth edition in New York in May, we have developed new audiences for contemporary African art and its diaspora through three fairs and three different continents.”

1-54 has just announced its exhibitors for the next edition that it is organizing in Marrakech, in February 2019, after an inauguration noted for its quality, more than for its sales. New leading galleries will join the event, such as the Poggi gallery (Paris), but also the South African heavyweight Goodman Gallery, or In Situ – Fabienne Leclerc (Paris) and Siniya28 (Marrakech).

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