The Nsukka group is the name given to a group of Nigerian artists associated with the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
El Anatsui is a Ghanaian sculptor active for much of his career in Nigeria. He has drawn particular international attention for his "bottle-top installations". These installations consist of thousands of aluminum pieces sourced from alcohol recycling stations and sewn together with copper wire, which are then transformed into metallic cloth-like wall sculptures. Such materials, while seemingly stiff and sturdy, are actually free and flexible, which often helps with manipulation when installing his sculptures.
Chike C. Aniakor is a Nigerian artist, art historian, author, and poet whose work addresses philosophical, political, and religious themes relating to Igbo society and the Nigerian Civil War. His artworks are held in major metropolitan museums including the Smithsonian Institution, Nigerian National Gallery of Art, and the Museum fur Volkerkunde in Frankfurt. Aniakor is a prolific writer and has authored over 75 books and articles.
Sokari Douglas Camp CBE is a London-based artist who has had exhibitions all over the world and was the recipient of a bursary from the Henry Moore Foundation. She was honoured as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2005 Birthday Honours list.
Nnenna Okore is an Australian-born Nigerian artist who lives and works in Chicago at North Park University, Chicago. Her largely abstract sculptural forms are inspired by richly textured forms and colours within the natural environment. Okore's work frequently uses flotsam or discarded objects to create intricate sculptures and installations through repetitive and labor-intensive processes. She learnt some of her intricate methods, including weaving, sewing, rolling, twisting and dyeing, by watching local Nigerians perform daily domestic tasks. In her more recent works, Okore uses plant-based materials to create large bioplastic art forms and installations. Her work has been shown in galleries and museums within and outside of the United States. She has won several international awards, including a Fulbright Scholar Award in 2012. and the Australian Creative Victoria Award in 2021.
Chika Okeke-Agulu is a Nigerian artist, art historian, art curator, and blogger specializing in African and African diaspora art history. He lives in Princeton, New Jersey.
Naomi Achu, born Fruh-Ngwing Achu, is a Cameroonian singer, rapper, and songwriter. She is best known for “Alhadji,” which was played in the eighth season of Big Brother Africa. Naomi is credited with being among the forerunners of Cameroonian pop music, particularly in the diaspora. She goes by the moniker “Queen of Bamenda.”
The 56th Venice Biennale was an international contemporary art exhibition held between May and November 2015. The Venice Biennale takes place biennially in Venice, Italy. Artistic director Okwui Enwezor curated its central exhibition, "All The World's Futures".
Amarachi Okafor is a Nigerian artist whose works have focused on culture, religion, history, gender relations, human sexuality, and topical issues, like the spread of the Ebola virus in Africa.
The Africa Centre, London was founded in 1964 at 38 King Street, Covent Garden, where over the years it held many art exhibitions, conferences, lectures, and a variety of cultural events, as well as housing a gallery, meeting halls, restaurant, bar and bookshop. The Africa Centre closed its original venue in 2013, and now has a permanent home at 66 Great Suffolk Street, Southwark, south London. It is a registered charity.
Ugochukwu-Smooth C. Nzewi is a Nigerian artist, art historian, and curator, currently curator in the Department of Painting and Sculpture at Museum of Modern Art in New York City. He was raised in Enugu and studied under sculptor El Anatsui at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, before traveling as an artist and curator. In the United States, he completed his doctorate at Emory University in 2013 and became the curator of African art at Dartmouth College's Hood Museum of Art. In 2017, he moved to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Nzewi has curated the Nigerian Afrika Heritage Biennial three times, the Dak'Art biennial in 2014, and independent exhibitions at Atlanta's High Museum of Art and New York's Richard Taittinger Gallery. Nzewi also exhibited internationally as an artist and artist-in-resident.
Emeka Ogboh is a Nigerian sound and installation artist best known for his soundscapes of life in Lagos. Trained as an artist, he began working with sounds that characterize cities following an Egyptian multimedia art program. He presents unmodified field recordings from Lagos city life in gallery installations with headphones and speakers. His non-audio work uses iconography from Lagos city life.
Goodman Gallery is an art gallery founded in Johannesburg, South Africa by Linda Givon in 1966. The gallery operates spaces in Johannesburg, Cape Town, and London. It represents both established and emerging artists who are regarded as having helped shape the landscape of contemporary art in Southern Africa.
Pamela Phatsimo Sunstrum is a visual artist. Her practice includes drawing, painting, installation, and animation. Her work has been featured in numerous exhibitions, including the GTA21 Triennial Exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Toronto, Canada; The Bronx Museum in New York, USA; The Wiels Contemporary Art Centre in Brussels, Belgium; Museum der Moderne Salzburg, Kunsthaus Zürich, Germany; The Showroom in London, England; and the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa in Johannesburg, South Africa.
ART X Lagos is an art fair in Lagos, Nigeria. It is the leading international art fair in West Africa, founded and launched in 2016, and eight editions have been held so far. The ninth edition of the fair will take place between October 31 - November 3 2024.
Tokini Peterside-Schwebig is a Nigerian entrepreneur, business woman and art collector. She is the founder of ART X Collective, a cultural management company in Lagos, Nigeria. The company's flagship fair, ART X Lagos, is the leading international art fair in West Africa.
Joseph Adekunle Olubo, was an artist and book illustrator active in the 1980s. He participated in some of the first art exhibitions organized by Black British artists in the United Kingdom. Olubo was one of 22 artists included in the 1983 inaugural exhibition, Heart in Exile, at The Black-Art Gallery, an art space in London which worked with artists of African and Caribbean backgrounds.
Naomi Wanjiku Gakunga, is a Kenyan sculptor and visual artist. She was shortlisted for the Financial Times/Oppenheimer Funds Emerging Voices Awards in 2016 and 2017.
1:54 is an annual contemporary African art fair held in London during the October Frieze Week since 2013. It was organized to improve the representation of contemporary African art in worldwide exhibitions, and is the foremost art fair dedicated to contemporary African art in the primary art market. By 2016, the show had become three times the size of the original exhibition with 130 artists represented. A spin-off, pop-up show, 1:54 NY, has been held annually in New York City during the May Frieze New York since 2015. A third location, in Marrakech, began in 2018. Critics have described 1:54 as a highlight of the Frieze event, and wrote that the show's publicity for contemporary African art outweighs the issues of lumping disparate geographic traditions together. The fair's representation from African galleries has improved as the international market for African art expands.
Eddy Kamuanga Ilunga is a contemporary painter from the Democratic Republic of the Congo whose Afrofuturism works have been exhibited across Africa and in Europe and the United States.
