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Touria El Glaoui, Founding Director of 1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair, discusses five fascinating themes from the London event: young creatives, photography, sexuality and the body, migration, and the Sahara.

Discover 17 incredible contemporary African artists here, with a tour from Glaoui.

Courtesy of Mariane Ibrahim Gallery

<em>Untitled I, Cocktail Series, 2011</em><br /><br />"Namsa Leuba, born in 1982, creates vivid works that use color, props and theatrical gestures to examine tensions between opposing forces such as fact and fiction, sacredness and secularity. Her practice spans across documentary, fashion and performance."

Young artists: Namsa Leuba —

Untitled I, Cocktail Series, 2011

"Namsa Leuba, born in 1982, creates vivid works that use color, props and theatrical gestures to examine tensions between opposing forces such as fact and fiction, sacredness and secularity. Her practice spans across documentary, fashion and performance."

Courtesy Namsa Leuba/LagosPhoto

<em>AbandonnÇs, 2015</em><br />"Eddy Kamuanga Ilunga was born in 1991, and included in Pangaea II; New Art from Africa and Latin America. His work is occupied with the social complexities of Congolese society and the Mangebetu people. He incorporates various techniques and diverse aesthetics, and references both traditional culture and pop culture."

Young artists: Eddy Kamuanga Ilunga —

AbandonnÇs, 2015
"Eddy Kamuanga Ilunga was born in 1991, and included in Pangaea II; New Art from Africa and Latin America. His work is occupied with the social complexities of Congolese society and the Mangebetu people. He incorporates various techniques and diverse aesthetics, and references both traditional culture and pop culture."

Courtesy of the artist and October Gallery

<em>Pagans IX, 2014</em><br /><br />"Born in 1982, Jim Chuchu is a photographer and member of the NEST Collective in Kenya, who had tremendous success internationally following the success of their film Stories of Our Lives -- 8 vignettes of queer life in Kenya. Stories of Our Lives has also been recently been released as an anthology of 250 stories of Kenyans who identify as LGBT."

Young artists: Jim Chuchu —

Pagans IX, 2014

"Born in 1982, Jim Chuchu is a photographer and member of the NEST Collective in Kenya, who had tremendous success internationally following the success of their film Stories of Our Lives -- 8 vignettes of queer life in Kenya. Stories of Our Lives has also been recently been released as an anthology of 250 stories of Kenyans who identify as LGBT."

Courtesy of Mariane Ibrahim Gallery

<em>White carpets, 2006</em><br /><br />"Maïmouna Guerresi takes striking photographs that often explore and interrogate gender in different cultural contexts, as well femininity and spirituality."

Photography: Maïmouna Guerresi —

White carpets, 2006

"Maïmouna Guerresi takes striking photographs that often explore and interrogate gender in different cultural contexts, as well femininity and spirituality."

Courtesy of Mariane Ibrahim Gallery

<em>Pontus, 2012</em><br />"Playful photographs experiment with employing multiple techniques, thus creating layered photographs that also incorporate printmaking."

Photography: Délio Jasse —

Pontus, 2012
"Playful photographs experiment with employing multiple techniques, thus creating layered photographs that also incorporate printmaking."

Courtesy of the artist and Tiwani Contemporary

<em>Untitled 04, 2015</em><br />"Her work often straddles and occupies the tension between the public sphere and the private and attempts to locate the experiences of the contemporary within this dichotomy. She works with mediums such as photography, painting, sculpture, installation and video in order to examine through her practice the interdependence of the environment, objects of everyday life, and humanity with a sense of anthropological reflection."

Sexuality and the body: Amina Benchbouta —

Untitled 04, 2015
"Her work often straddles and occupies the tension between the public sphere and the private and attempts to locate the experiences of the contemporary within this dichotomy. She works with mediums such as photography, painting, sculpture, installation and video in order to examine through her practice the interdependence of the environment, objects of everyday life, and humanity with a sense of anthropological reflection."

<em>Kingston, 2013</em><br /><br />"Simone Leigh explores black female subjectivity by interacting with feminism, ethnographic research and notions of performance."

Sexuality and the body: Simone Leigh —

Kingston, 2013

"Simone Leigh explores black female subjectivity by interacting with feminism, ethnographic research and notions of performance."

Sylvain Deleu Photographer

<em>Pythie, 2015</em><br /><br />"Her work often deals with the female body and its representation, engaging with ways in which bodies are threatened or made vulnerable. She also examines the confrontation with the Other and the search for identity in this encounter."

Sexuality and the body: Myriam Mihindou —

Pythie, 2015

"Her work often deals with the female body and its representation, engaging with ways in which bodies are threatened or made vulnerable. She also examines the confrontation with the Other and the search for identity in this encounter."

Courtesy of ARTLabAfrica

<em>Scars III, 2012</em><br /><br />"The Tunisian artist is considered one of the most influential Arab woman artists working today. Her work often presents the female form in a way that undoes the male gaze, and examines notions of femininity."

Sexuality and the body: Meriem Bouderbala —

Scars III, 2012

"The Tunisian artist is considered one of the most influential Arab woman artists working today. Her work often presents the female form in a way that undoes the male gaze, and examines notions of femininity."

Nicolas Bertherat/Courtesy of GVCC

<em>Passage, 2015</em><br /><br />"Her photographic works navigate the heterogeneity of female identity, demonstrating the ways in which her multifaceted identity influences her practice."

Sexuality and the body: Zahrin Kahlo —

Passage, 2015

"Her photographic works navigate the heterogeneity of female identity, demonstrating the ways in which her multifaceted identity influences her practice."

Courtesy of GVCC

<em>Cool Spot, 2013</em><br /><br />"Karo Akpokiere was selected to participate in the 56th Edition of the Venice Biennale, All The World's Futures, in which he presented works that are heavily tied to his own movement between Lagos and Berlin."

Migration: Karo Akpokiere —

Cool Spot, 2013

"Karo Akpokiere was selected to participate in the 56th Edition of the Venice Biennale, All The World's Futures, in which he presented works that are heavily tied to his own movement between Lagos and Berlin."

Courtesy of Jack Bell Gallery

<em>Ikhlas Khan, Diaspora series, 2015</em><br /><br />"His body of work in the series Project Diaspora interrogates notions of migration and return through revisiting the cultural, social and political complexities of slavery, its abolition and its continuing presence in shaping notions of identity. Diop asks "How do you define the notion of Africanness if you walk away from it?"

Migration: Omar Victor Diop —

Ikhlas Khan, Diaspora series, 2015

"His body of work in the series Project Diaspora interrogates notions of migration and return through revisiting the cultural, social and political complexities of slavery, its abolition and its continuing presence in shaping notions of identity. Diop asks "How do you define the notion of Africanness if you walk away from it?"

Courtesy of Magnin-A, Paris

<em>Waiting for Nothing, 2015</em><br /><br />"Ruby Onyinyechi Amanze looks at her own sense of belonging and displacement. Her work incorporates different mediums, from printmaking to photography and textile design. She engages with cultural hybridity, belonging and displacement, having been born in Nigeria, spending her formative years in Britain and currently practicing from New York."

Migration: Ruby Oyinyechi Amanze —

Waiting for Nothing, 2015

"Ruby Onyinyechi Amanze looks at her own sense of belonging and displacement. Her work incorporates different mediums, from printmaking to photography and textile design. She engages with cultural hybridity, belonging and displacement, having been born in Nigeria, spending her formative years in Britain and currently practicing from New York."

Courtesy of Mariane Ibrahim Gallery

<em>Case # 33 VI, 2013 </em><br />"Through multiple photographic practices Ayana Jackson elucidates the experiences and perspectives of contemporary Africa and of African diasporic communities, speaking to African and African American imaginations with a sense of provocation and introspection."

Migration: Ayana V. Jackson —

Case # 33 VI, 2013
"Through multiple photographic practices Ayana Jackson elucidates the experiences and perspectives of contemporary Africa and of African diasporic communities, speaking to African and African American imaginations with a sense of provocation and introspection."

Courtesy of Mariane Ibrahim Gallery

<em>Walk under a white sky (triptych), 2015 </em><br /><br />"The Algerian artist often looks to political and social action and events in the region to inspire his multilayered creations, which juxtapose drawing and animation."

Sahara: Massinissa Selmani —

Walk under a white sky (triptych), 2015

"The Algerian artist often looks to political and social action and events in the region to inspire his multilayered creations, which juxtapose drawing and animation."

Courtesy of Primo Marella Gallery

<em>Mirage Blue to Black, 2015 </em><br />"Zoulikha Bouabdellah's work considers socio-cultural boundaries as a site of productivity, through living and working in Casablanca and Paris, and, additionally, having been born in Russia. She employs various media to destabilize traditional conceptions of order and custom."

Sahara: Zoulikha Bouabdellah —

Mirage Blue to Black, 2015
"Zoulikha Bouabdellah's work considers socio-cultural boundaries as a site of productivity, through living and working in Casablanca and Paris, and, additionally, having been born in Russia. She employs various media to destabilize traditional conceptions of order and custom."

Courtesy of the artist and Sabrina Amrani Gallery

17 contemporary African art stars

London CNN —

While Frieze art fair was making London’s loudest noises, last week, a younger creative event was calmly claiming plaudits.

1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair, “Europe’s leading art fair dedicated to Contemporary African Art,” opened for its third edition at the Strand’s grand Somerset House.

It was 1:54’s biggest year so far with 38 galleries representing more than 150 artists from Africa and the African diaspora. The 2015 event follows the fair’s first excursion overseas, a parallel show in New York held earlier this year.

‘I am absolutely delighted with the response to the latest edition of 1:54,” says founder Touria El Glaoui. “As the only international contemporary African art fair, it is a great joy to showcase the world’s best African and African diasporan artists here in London.”

Glaoui reports 15,000 attendees, around a quarter of the more established Frieze. But visitors said its smaller scale offered a exciting museum-like experience, with a lot to take in at Somerset House’s west wing. African art is big business, now, but – unlike the main Frieze event, a take-it-or-leave-it experience for many who weren’t there to buy – the 1:54 fair packed “rich diversity.”

This year’s fair takes inspiration from the Sahara – a physical and psychological borderland between the continent’s northern rim and southern expanses – but has won praise for the wide range of offerings on show.

Before the show, Glaoui highlighted FORUM, the series of talks that provide the backbone to the fair, which focuses on the artistic production in North Africa and “the perceived border between the so-called Maghreb and the countries south of the Sahara,” said the founder.

“FORUM will move to consider experiences of migration and movement across the conceptual border of the Sahara which remains in the consciousness of many, an artistic, cultural and social divide,” she said.

1:54 – the name a reference to the 54 countries that make up the African continent – hosted artists from South Africa, Morocco, Angola, Tunisia, Benin, Kenya, Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire, and Zimbabwe, as well as artists from across Europe and the USA.

For the organizers, the desert theme provided fertile ground from which many different discussions have grown. Drawing on salient themes from this year’s fair, Glaoui names some of the continent’s best young artists and photographers exploring emerging topics from the show: sexuality, migration, and the Sahara.

Swipe through the gallery above to see the 17 artist organized by theme: youth, photography, sexuality, migration, and the Sahara.

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Sexuality and the Sahara: 17 artists showcasing Africa’s divergent stars

17 contemporary African art stars