As London's art season shifts into high gear, the spotlight on African artists expands far beyond the main events of Frieze London, Frieze Masters, and the 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair. This year, numerous galleries, museums, and alternative art spaces across the city are featuring exhibitions that celebrate the depth and diversity of African artistic expression.
From cutting-edge contemporary installations to thought-provoking retrospectives, these showcases highlight the global influence of African art and its evolving narrative within the international art scene. Expect a fusion of perspectives, with artists exploring identity, heritage, diaspora, and modernity through dynamic and captivating works that command attention.
EXHIBITIONS
Galleries
The Sun Must Come Down | Kwesi Botchway
Gallery 1957 | 7th-12th October
This autumn, the French Protestant Church of London will host a unique exhibition by Ghanaian visual artist Kwesi Botchway. For one week only, from October 7th, The Sun Must Come Down, curated by Azu Nwagbogu, will captivate visitors with an interdisciplinary experience, blending art and music. Known for his fusion of African realism and French impressionism, Botchway’s latest body of work explores themes of shared humanity and spirituality. This exhibition is accompanied by a harmonizing performance from the London Community Gospel Choir on the opening night, setting the tone for a deeply reflective artistic journey.
Wondering Under A Shifting Sun | Emma Prempeh
Tiwani Contemporary | October 4th-November 16th
Tiwani Contemporary presents the first of two solo presentations (the second in Lagos early 2025) by Emma Prempeh where pictorially she considers for the first time, landscape, and its relevance as an expansion of her hyperreal perceptions of home, belonging and memory. Her paintings depict events, people, interiors, places and still life from past and recent memories, emphasizing and representing the passing of time and the instability of memory. On occasion, Prempeh includes projected still or moving imagery, to invite experiential and performative encounters with her work.
Minor Attractions | Djofray Makumbu
Bolanle Contemporary | October 9th-13th
Bolanle Contemporary presents a solo presentation of artworks by artist Djofray Makumbu at the 2024 edition of Minor Attractions. Held at the Mandrake Hotel from October 9th to 13th, the exhibition delves into the artist’s much-lauded series Kokanisa eloko moko malamu (Lingala for “to recall a good memory”), a thoughtful exploration of the Congolese diaspora’s stories of migration, memory, and belonging.
Fragments from the treasure house of darkness | Kehinde Wiley
Stephen Friedman | 3rd October-9th November, 2024
Kehinde Wiley returns to London for his much-anticipated latest solo exhibition, Fragments from the Treasure House of Darkness. This marks Wiley’s first exhibition in the city in three years, following The Prelude at The National Gallery. Still showing at the Stephen Friedman Gallery, this extraordinary show promises to captivate and challenge perceptions of art history, scale, and power.
He invites us into a world where grandeur meets intimacy, featuring two multi-part paintings and a stunning series of 60 miniature portraits. This exhibition is a celebration of youth, identity, and Wiley’s ever-evolving creative vision.
Girls Like Us | Rufai Zakari
Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery | September 27th -2nd November, 2024
Experience Girls Like Us, the much-anticipated solo exhibition by renowned Ghanaian artist Rufai Zakari at Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, Tower Bridge. This captivating showcase, set to dazzle art lovers, pays homage to the strength, resilience, and beauty of African women, woven into powerful, textured portraits using flattened, upcycled plastics. These women, depicted in moments of joy, rest, and empowerment, stand proudly against bold backdrops that speak of land, culture, and rich craft traditions. Zakari masterfully merges art and narrative to celebrate those often overlooked.
The Geography Of Feelings | Tiffanie Delune
Gallery 1957 London | October 3rd - 21st November, 2024
Get ready to embark on a journey through the vibrant, emotional landscapes of The Geography of Feelings, a captivating new exhibition by French Belgo-Congolese artist Tiffanie Delune, debuting at Gallery 1957 London. From October 3rd to November 21st, 2024, Delune unveils a stunning collection of paintings and textiles that explore the deep intersections of spirituality, anatomy, and nature.
Renowned for weaving dreams and fantasies into her work, Delune draws inspiration from the natural world, especially the medical plants and trees she photographed during her travels in the DR Congo. Now, in her first solo show in London, she invites us to experience her utopian world—an intricate fusion of geometry, animism, and astrology, creating spiritual maps on canvas and expansive dreamscapes on linen.
Strange Fruit | Jem Perucchini
Gallery 1957 London | October - 21st November, 2024
London’s Corvi-Mora Gallery is set to unveil Strange Fruit, a highly anticipated solo exhibition by emerging artist Jem Perucchini. Running from October 9th to November 16th, 2024, the exhibition will feature Perucchini’s latest works, including piece, Ipomea (Eurydice) (2024), a captivating blend of oil and acrylic on canvas, sized 65.5 x 45.4 cm. The exhibition explores intricate themes of identity, mythology, and emotion through Perucchini's unique use of textures and colors.
His work is known for its deep storytelling and evocative imagery, merging contemporary art with classical references. Corvi-Mora continues its tradition of supporting contemporary artists who push boundaries in technique and subject matter. This exhibition promises to be a visual and intellectual feast for visitors.
Museums
It Will End In Tears| Pamela Phatsimo Sunstrum
The Barbican | October 8, 2024, - 5th January, 2025
Mark your calendars for an unforgettable journey as internationally acclaimed artist Pamela Phatsimo Sunstrum presents her first solo exhibition at The Barbican, a major UK institution. From Thursday, 19 September 2024, to Sunday, 5 January 2025, The Curve will be transformed into a cinematic universe that invites you to explore life-size dioramas and paintings as they unravel the tale of a femme fatale in a fictional colonial outpost.
In It Will End in Tears, Sunstrum merges the theatrical with the intimate, creating a world where societal rules are challenged and boundaries blurred. Her diverse practice, shaped by her experiences across Africa, Southeast Asia, and North America, promises a thought-provoking exploration of identity, home, and rebellion.
An Awkward Relation| Sonia Boyce
Whitechapel Gallery | October 2nd, 2024, - 12th January, 2025
This October, Whitechapel Gallery plays host to Sonia Boyce: An Awkward Relation, running from October 2, 2024, to January 12, 2025. Sonia Boyce, a trailblazer of the British Black Arts Movement and winner of the prestigious Golden Lion prize at the 2022 Venice Biennale, returns to the spotlight with a solo exhibition that will captivate and inspire.
Boyce's works span photography, collage, film, printmaking, drawing, installation, and sound, creating immersive and sensorial experiences. An Awkward Relation invites audiences to engage with rarely seen pieces, including her iconic hair works from the 1990s and a compelling documentation of her 2016 performance.
Hygrosummons (iter.01) | Simnikiwe Buhlungu
Chisenhale Gallery | September 6th - 3rd November, 2024
The highly anticipated UK debut of Amsterdam-based South African artist, Simnikiwe Buhlungu is here, with her solo exhibition, hygrosummons (iter.01), at Chisenhale Gallery from 6 September – 3 November 2024.This evocative new commission is a sensory journey, where sight and sound converge in a cryptic installation. Buhlungu’s work harnesses water, specifically "puddles," to explore the fluid interplay of knowledge, history, and ecology.
Using samples from four distinct locations, including the Tswaing Crater in Pretoria and Chisenhale's own surroundings, Buhlungu’s thought-provoking installation invites you to immerse yourself in her impressionistic research. Warped wooden doors and moisture-curled works on paper transform the gallery space into a dynamic landscape where boundaries blur between the private and public, the natural and man-made.
Public Mural | Esther Mahlangu
Serpentine North Garden | October 4th, 2024 - 28 September, 2025
Esther Mahlangu, one of the world’s most iconic painters is showing at Serpentine North in Kensington Gardens. Known globally for her vibrant geometric works inspired by the matrilineal traditions of Ndebele culture, Mahlangu continues to push boundaries in her first-ever public artwork in Britain.
Titled Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu—a Ndebele phrase meaning “I am because you are”—this outdoor mural is a celebration of community, unity, and interconnectedness, themes that have defined her eight-decade-long career. Mahlangu's journey began in the early 1940s when she was just ten years old, painting against her family’s wishes. Now, at 88, her bold, ambitious creations resonate globally, and her Serpentine mural promises to be a landmark moment in art.
TALKS
Bridging Cultures: Promoting African Art in the Asian Market
1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair | October 11, 2024 | 3:30 pm-4:30PM
As the global art scene increasingly embraces cross-cultural collaboration, the 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair in London will host a key panel discussion that dives into the intersection of African and Asian markets. Titled Bridging Cultures: Promoting African Art in the Asian Market, this highly anticipated event will take place on 11 October 2024, from 15:30 to 16:30 at the Screening Room, Somerset House, London. Organized by Pearl Lam Galleries, this session brings together leading voices in the art world to explore how African artists can make deeper inroads into the burgeoning Asian art scene.
The panel features a dynamic group of speakers, including Atilmi Adewale, a prominent African artist and cultural influencer; Pearl Lam, founder of Pearl Lam Galleries and a trailblazer in bridging Eastern and Western art practices; and Alayo Akinkugbe, an influential curator and art historian, known for her work in promoting African art on a global stage. Each panelist brings a wealth of experience, offering insights into the challenges and opportunities in expanding the reach of African art into Asia’s cultural capitals like Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Singapore.
Comentários