courtesy daniele tamagni
London's 1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair opens for its fourth edition at Somerset House. But this year, a host of new galleries are debuting - showcasing the continent's young progressive artists.
courtesy serge clottey
Ghanaian born Clottey often dresses up in women's clothes in public street performances with his 70 strong collective who take part in his public art performances.
courtesy serge clottey
A new project will see him cast a critical eye over Ghana's upcoming elections by staging his own public voter system inside Gallery 1957. He hopes to highlight how corrupt the voting system has become.
courtesy Billie Zangewa
Malawian-born artist based in Johannesburg, South Africa, Billie Zangewa, celebrates powerful females through her delicate silk tapestries, collages and cotton embroidery pieces.
courtesy Eddy Kamuanga, October Gallery London
Kinshasa born Kamuanga Ilunga, wants his circuit board images to reflect the Democratic Republic of Congo's rapid modernization.
courtesy Eddy Kamuanga, October Gallery, London
The Democratic Republic of Congo is the world's largest exporter of coltan, the raw material used for computer chips and cellphones.
courtesy Namsa Leuba
Lagos--based Art Twenty One, which represents Guinean/Swiss photographer Namsa Leuba seeks out international as well as local artists to represent.
courtesy Namsa Leuba
Curator Joseph Gergel says, "our international artists have also come to Lagos to create new artistic projects, so it becomes a dialogue between the international and the local."
courtesy Majida Khattari
Majida Khattari's photographic work, Khattari reconsiders the clichés that dominate orientalist painting as well as the scenery which inspires it.
daniele tamagni
Italian photographer Daniele Tamagni documents impressive contemporary fashion subcultures across Africa.

Story highlights

The majority of sales from Africa's lucrative modern art market take place outside the continent

London's 1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair sees the debut of new galleries based in Africa want to change this

CNN  — 

There is a new international scramble for Africa happening but this time it is not for lucrative geographical territories but its modern art.

Investment in the right pieces can see a 10-fold increase in their future value – leading to a plethora of international galleries vying to represent its artists.

While reports of Africa’s growing middle class art collectors abound, of which there is, in reality 80 per cent of sales in African art still come from international collectors mainly in the US and UK.

Something that art fairs such as 1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair - which opened yesterday at London’s Somerset House – has capitalized on.

Individual prices at last year’s fair reached almost $70,000.

When 1:54, named after the 54 countries that make up the African continent, launched three years ago, it did so to just one wing of the 16th century house. Today, the fair takes over the entire building, a testament to the show’s increasing popularity.

Fighting for control

However this year a quiet riot is taking place; Africa, no longer content with seeing its artists fronted by foreign galleries, is fighting for control.

17 galleries make their debut at 1:54 and a considerable number of them are based on the continent such as Gallery 1957 - which opened in Ghana earlier this year.

Its Lebanese-born founder Marwan Zakhem, told CNN he wanted to give artists “the option of not having to travel internationally and hook up with galleries around the world.”

NII ODZENMA
Serge Attukwei Clottey and his collective GoLokal, perform My Mother's Wardrobe at Gallery 1957, on 6 March 2016

Many artists struggling to get their artworks noticed, inevitably move to the US or Europe notes Zakhem.

Gallery 1957 – named after the country’s year of independence, allows artists “to be able to do their work within Ghana but have the platform to be able to take it internationally - I don’t think a lot of artists have had that opportunity,” he says.

A closer relationship

The gallery brings to 1:54, the works of Serge Attukwei Clottey, born and raised in Ghana’s capital. For Clottey, being represented by an Accra based gallery means a closer relationship and bond.

“As an artist I just can’t deal with this whole markets and everything, because I’m in my process I just want to do my art,” says Clottey.

“I just want to be in my studio and create my work, but, I believe getting to work with good galleries is quite important because then you can become less concerned with the politics of it.”

Clottey’s works often deal with political and social issues in Ghana.

His use of the yellow jerry cans used to carry water in Ghana, is recognizable.

“The plastic jerry cans for me has a very interesting journey coming from Europe and into Africa,” he says.

Giving artists their own voice

Also debuting at 1:54 is Ethiopia based Addis Fine Art, which opened its doors January 2016.

“We wanted to tap into the wider market so that our artists can get recognition and be commercially successful,” its co-director Rakeb Sile told CNN.

Of its white cube space in Addis Ababa, Sile notes they “wanted it to be like when you walk walked into a New York [gallery], have that feel, that curatorial rigor.”

courtesy Namsa Leuba
Swiss-Guinean photographer Namsa Leuba's "Zulu Kids" was inspired by anti-apartheid movements, she writes in gallery materials for 1:54.

Amongst its five Ethiopian-born artists exhibiting, is Michael Tsegaye. The celebrated photographer has been highlighting the country’s rapid industrialization - a contentious issue amongst locals.

His Chasms of the Soul series looks at cemeteries that have been bulldozed over to make way for luxury buildings.

“He looks at how a lot of things that we used to know, they’ve been stripped away, with these new generalized cities emerging,” says Sile.

What’s important, says Zakhem is the newer Africa based galleries allow artists to have their own voice, which is often missing on international platforms.

A boost in local collectors

Audiences can now start to notice the large distinction between modern arts from Senegal versus that of Morocco.

“This whole African art thing I find it hard because it’s such a large continent, to say that somebody’s art that is coming from Labadi [Ghana’s beach town], is the same as somebody that is coming from Zimbabwe - it’s not,” Zakhem says, with a noticeable frustration.

courtesy Hassan Hajjaj
Pepsi Rider by British Moroccan artist Hassan Hajjaj represented at 1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair by Galerie d'art L'Atelier 21.

It’s also a way of increasing the number of local collectors. “A lot of my collectors are based abroad and not in Ghana but just recently after my show with 1957 [which took place in Accra] a lot of Ghanaians have patronized the work,” explains Clottey.

For Africa’s new galleries, sales are not flying through the door yet, admits Sile. “But that’s because people aren’t used to buying from galleries within Ethiopia,” she says, “Because there isn’t that many.”

A decline in international interest?

Will the international interest in Africa’s modern art abate? Not likely think experts.

“It would be too easy to think that this is just a trend,” says Nadia Amor, director of Galerie d’art L’Atelier 21 - another newbie to 1:54. The luxury five-year-old gallery is based in Morocco, Casablanca.

“The rise of such interest for contemporary African art is most likely to be related to the deep and strong statements that African artists are making through their artistic productions, which are rooted in cultural, social, and political issues and phenomena that are altering the face of Africa,” she says, “making it one of the places where alternative gazes and thoughts are emerging.”

Amor adds: “Even though it is a very competitive market, they [African artists] have a sharp sense for positioning themselves through the relevance of their works.”

1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair runs until 9 October, at Somerset House, London.