African Design Is Rising. Hicham Lahlou, One of Its Pioneers, Explains Why.
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For thirty years, the Moroccan designer and interior architect has built a language that fuses African heritage with global modernism. A graduate of the Académie Charpentier in Paris, Lahlou is regarded as one of the leading figures in contemporary African…
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The Artist Within Society: Insights from Jacobleu
In October, Ivorian multidisciplinary artist Jacobleu was in Dakar as part of preparations for the upcoming first edition of West African Festival of Arts and Culture (ECOFEST), a regional initiative supported by ECOWAS and UEMOA. His role in the organisation…
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Forget ‘African Art.’ Franck Hermann Ekra Argues for the Trans-African
In the crowded aisles of the Carreau du Temple, where the 10th edition of the AKAA art fair unfolded this October, Franck Hermann Ekra moved with the quiet assurance of someone who has spent years reading the world through its…
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‘Painting Feels Like Prayer’ for Keemetaane’s Mystic Canvases
Born in Linguère, in northeastern Senegal, where the rhythms of rural life left no room for canvas or paint, Babacar Ndiaye grew up without an artistic tradition to guide him. His early career unfolded in Senegal’s tourism sector, , a…
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“A Home for Us, by Us”: How Tokini Peterside-Schwebig Made ART X Lagos a Landmark for African Art
For Tokini Peterside-Schwebig, art has always been more than an industry—it is a way of imagining the future. Nearly ten years ago, she channeled that belief into ART X Lagos, a fair that has since become a cornerstone of Nigeria’s…
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Abidjan’s New Wave: The Young Artists Shaping Ivory Coast’s Creative Future
Abidjan is riding a bold new wave of contemporary art. This vibrant city, Ivory Coast’s economic heartbeat, is transforming into a global hub for creative innovation. Its streets, galleries, and museums pulse with fresh energy, driven by a dynamic generation…
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“We Are All Bidons”: Romuald Hazoumè’s Jerrycan Masks Mock a Wasteful World
Romuald Hazoumè’s voice—blunt, defiant, uncompromising—carries the same raw force as his iconic masks made from jerrycans. These sculptures, fashioned from discarded petrol containers, evoke Benin’s shadow economy of fuel smuggling with Nigeria, where many risk their lives transporting volatile loads…
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Amadou Diaw, Architect of MuPho, Makes Photography the Beating Heart of Saint-Louis, Senegal
Few cities in West Africa carry the weight of memory quite like Saint-Louis. Perched on an island at the mouth of the Senegal River, this UNESCO World Heritage site was once the colonial capital of French West Africa, a cosmopolitan…
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A Swiss Foundation Elevates African Voices Through Artists and Scholars
In the heart of Basel, a city whose history is intertwined with Africa in ways both inspiring and troubling, the Fondation Oumou Dilly is quietly reshaping the conversation about who gets to produce knowledge — and whose stories get told.…
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The Curator Working to Decolonize a Museum in Dakar Designed for Colonizers: A Conversation with Dr. El Hadji Malick Ndiaye
The Théodore Monod Museum of African Art was never meant to tell Africa’s story on its own terms. Founded in 1936 as part of a colonial ethnographic project, its mission was once to display African objects as curiosities of a…
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Bridging Africa and The World Through Contemporary Art 