Solo Exhibitions

Wilfred Ukpong: Niger-Delta / Future-Cosmos is still on view at Autograph in London, United Kingdom until June 1, 2024

Utilising aspects of Afrofuturism and mysticism, artist Wilfred Ukpong creates compelling and poetic reflections on the crisis of environmental degradation and exploitation in the Niger Delta. Drawing on historical and personal archives, ecology politics and indigenous environmentalism, his work demonstrates how artmaking can be used as a tool for social empowerment and to confront continued, aggressive colonial practices. The works in the exhibition are all set in the Niger Delta, Ukpong’s homeland. Driven by a profound desire to effect change, the artist worked with more than two hundred young people from marginalised, oil-producing communities to collectively address the historical and environmental issues in the oil-rich region. The resulting photographs and film powerfully reference local rituals, ceremonial motifs, and symbols interwoven into a complex future cosmology.

Marcellina Akpojotor: Joy of more Worlds is still on view at Rele in London, United Kingdom until June 8, 2024

The series is a continuation of her survey into generational legacy and the evolving nature of archives. Building upon investigations of her maternal bloodline, this new body of work titled, Joy of more Worlds traces a timeline of family life that connects and captures the spirit of the contemporary African women, exploring female empowerment and the role of motherhood in society. The large-scale paintings are densely collaged with the Ankara fabric to delicately display intimate celebrations of memories. Akpojotor meticulously transforms the Ankara fabric into an abstract language on canvas, bridging the past and the contemporary. The material, used for daily wear in Nigerian society, serves as a cultural signifier and a conduit for memory. Choosing to use offcuts of Ankara, a powerful marker of African identity, speaks to Akpojotor’s belief in the medium of the cloth for telling private family histories.

Henok Melkamzer: Telsem Symbols and Imagery is still on view at the Sharjah Art Museum in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates until June 16, 2024

Drawing from astrology, religion and spirituality, the Ethiopian art form of telsem interweaves symbols, drawings and texts imbued with spiritual and philosophical significance. Shaped throughout the ages by the sociopolitical and cultural histories of Ethiopia, telsem—with its ancient inspirations and modern idioms—is used to address critical problems in the contemporary world such as climate disasters, war and poverty. Despite the fact that it continues to be practised, telsem is often characterised as ‘healing art’ or ‘talisman art’ within western frameworks, a perspective that excludes it from many discussions of modernism. Telsem Symbols and Imagery challenges such a one-dimensional understanding of modernism and offers us a rare insight into one of Ethiopia’s most compelling modernist art practices through the work of Henok Melkamzer.

Group Exhibitions

Contemporary African Spirituality in Art is still on view at the Walsh Gallery in South Orange, United States until May 20, 2024

Contemporary African Spirituality in Art speaks to what cultural practices have been mixed, juxtaposed and collided with ideas, themes, materiality and techniques that are both African and contemporary by African and African diaspora artists. The exhibition examines the transformation of spirituality through seven key themes: Altars, Rituals and Prayer; Healing, Protection and Symbols; Faith and Intuition; Family, Roots, Community, Freedom and Power; Protest, Revolution, Justice and Celebration; God, Goddess and Constructing Identities; and Present, The Future and Liberation. This interdisciplinary exhibition brings together multimedia art to present a thesis on Contemporary African Spirituality using art practices and programming to visualize these ideas. The exhibition features more than 25 artists working abroad and in the United States to collectively address the subject and influence of African spirituality on the world stage.

Auctions

May Art with a focus on Seasons will open at Strauss & Co in Cape Town, South Africa on May 13, 2024

Strauss & Co’s monthly ART online sales have, over recent years, gained increasing popularity, with both first-time and established collectors recognising the value and the ease of collecting art online. On Tuesday 7 May at Strauss & Co’s Cape Town offices, the May Art Club sees an expansion of the usual format to include a book launch and Q&A with artist and author Dominique Cheminais at 6pm. Paintings by Cheminais, which feature characters from her book, The Maze, will be on exhibition, and are available in the Art Club session as the first seven lots. Additional works will be available for immediate purchase. Preceding this is a walkabout by Strauss & Co specialists at 5:30pm. Each specialist will highlight their favourite works from the auction. This is a timed online Auction.