He Watched the Children Draw. Now He Teaches Them to Paint.
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For more than two decades, the Ivorian artist Aboudia has painted the faces, symbols and urgent markings of childhood onto large canvases that now travel the global art circuit. Frequently compared — fairly or not — to Jean-Michel Basquiat, and…
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Touria El Glaoui, Founder of 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair, on Building Beyond Visibility
As recent institutional research suggests that the African art market has “come of age,” with dedicated auction departments now integrated into broader contemporary sales, the conversation around African art has shifted from questions of visibility to those of structural integration.…
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Against Hierarchy, Toward Community: How Esinam Damalie is rethinking curatorial practice in Africa
As contemporary African art gains unprecedented visibility, questions of curation—who frames the work, how it is mediated and for whom—have become increasingly urgent. In this interview with DakArtNews, Rosemary Esinam Damalie, a Ghanaian artist and curator, reflects on curation as…
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In Côte d’Ivoire, a Sculptor Gives Form to the Unseen
In this interview conducted in Abidjan, Soro Kafana welcomes us into the intimate space where he lives and thinks about his art. Born in Côte d’Ivoire to a family of blacksmiths and farmers, Soro Kafana today “forges” wood with a…
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From Souks to Studio: Mo Baala, Painting in the Space Between Truths
In the village of Touggana, a quiet settlement on the outskirts of Marrakech where the city’s frenetic energy gives way to open sky and sparse olive groves, Mohamed Baala — known as Mo Baala — welcomed DakArtNews into his studio,…
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We Will Not Forget: How African Artists Confront the Post Colonial Legacy
Published in Art + Australia — Vol 60, No. 2 (The Recurrent) By Remy Mallet, Founder of DakArtNews A generation of contemporary artists are turning to the past—not out of nostalgia, but as a way to reshape the present. In…
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African Design Is Rising. Hicham Lahlou, One of Its Pioneers, Explains Why.
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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Bridging Africa and The World Through Contemporary Art 