by Few countries in Africa have dominated contemporary art affairs like Nigeria. In 2024, as Africa aims to buck the decades-long trend of under-representation at the Venice Biennale, all eyes will be on the west African country for its ambitious second-ever national pavilion, alongside first-time participants Benin and Morocco , whose presence has been called a “milestone for the continent”.
Andrea Emelife, the 29-year-old keeper of the Nigerian pavilion, does not take the responsibility lightly. “It is very important – for Nigeria, for Africa. I feel that we are at the center of something – politically and culturally,” says Emelife, promising that the Pavilion will embrace the unexpected”, “we will show who we are”, and “it will end with narrow stereotypes”.
Sunshine Alaibe, creative director of Art Report Africa, a hub for visual arts and culture in Nigeria, says that artists, designers and film makers from the continent are “making waves” on the world stage. Events such as Art X Lagos (Nigeria), Dak’art (Senegal), 1-54 Marrakesh (Morocco), and Investec Cape Town Art Fair (South Africa), she says, “are expanding people’s minds who participate in the art market”.
Azu Nwagbogu, Nigeria’s curator of the Benin pavilion, says: “The simultaneous participation of Benin and Morocco, two nations with a rich artistic history, is a milestone for the continent.
“Benin’s distinctive visa-free, open-border policy, a rarity on the continent, has fostered a cultural renaissance for Africa,” he says. “The nation, under the President [Patrice] Talon’s leadership is at the forefront of the ambitious reparations movement, taking a leadership role in shaping the landscape of arts and culture across the continent.”
We are denying what the colonial project tried to do – disconnect us from our culture. Instead, we accept it
Andrea Emelife, art curator
Emelife has put together an impressive line-up for the Nigerian pavilion, including British-Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare and Nigerian-American visual artist Toyin Ojih Odutola, as well as “rising global art stars” Precious Okoyomon, although only one – London-born Ndidi Dike – is based in Nigeria.
“In every corner of culture, from the Nollywood boom in film, to the global dominance of Afrobeats, from our power of Nigerian authors, to our international culinary experiments and, of course, international focus and enthusiasm for contemporary art, Nigeria is booming as about. In these many ways, creative people are looking back and within themselves and envisioning a future,” says Emelife. “We are denying what the colonial project tried to do – disconnect us from our culture. Instead, we take it, we reimagine it, and we bring it to the world.”
The theme of the pavilion is Imaginary Nigeria because, according to Emelife, “imagination is our most fruitful and powerful tool of freedom”.
“How do you imagine a nation? Can we make a contemporary parable? These are some of the questions that arose when I sat down to reflect on how to express such a diverse nation,” she says, adding that “hope and faith in the future is embedded in the Nigerian psyche “.
“The Nigerian Pavilion takes the viewer towards a hopeful future with the wind of history – a hopeful past, a restless present and an imagination of a possible Nigeria and the many Nigerians that live within us.”
Related: Nollywood moment: Africa’s film industry could ‘create 20m jobs’
Emelife is the curator of modern and contemporary art at the much-anticipated Museum of West African Art (Mowaa), located in Benin City, Nigeria, which will open in phases from late 2024. Christie’s and the Mowaa collaborated last year to raising money for the Nigerian Pavilion, with the likes of British-born Shonibare and Tunji Adeniyi-Jones donating works.
The 60th edition of the Venice Biennale, which runs from April 20 to November 24, is directed by Adriano Pedrosa, Brazilian curator and director of the São Paulo Museum of Art, and explores the idea of Ovunque Stranieri, or Foreigners everywhere, representing a concept without borders, “a global field in which there are multiple crises regarding the movement and life of people across countries”. The United Kingdom will be represented by Ghanaian-born artist and film-maker John Akomfrah, who moved to England when he was four years old.
There will be four artists in the Benin pavilion – Mofouli Bello, Chloé Quenum, Ishola Akpo and Romuald Hazoumé, who will address the theme Everything Precious Is Fragile. “This theme provides a lens through which we can confront tragic historical events, such as the transatlantic slave trade and resist it through the bravery of Agojie, Dahomey Amazons,” says Nwagbogu, citing Benin’s elite female warriors.
Nwagbogu, who founded the African Artists Foundation in 2007 and is the director of the LagosPhoto Festival, recently visited the high Vodoun priest at his palace in Ouidah. “He had a memorial wall with portraits of ancestors who had passed [and] in the middle of that memorial wall was a framed picture of George Floyd, Rayshard Brooks and Breonna Taylor,” he says.
“It was an exciting moment. It was emotional to see when we talked about the violence inflicted on African Americans in the United States.”
The theme of the pavilion is to “address the pressing issues of our time: ecology, climate change, loss of biodiversity, and the wisdom of learning from nature and our ancestors to meet the challenges of the 21st century,” says Nwagbogu.
Four arts events not to be missed in Africa in 2024
• 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair (February 8-11): The fair will showcase contemporary art from Africa and its diaspora in Marrakech, Morocco. Touria El Glaoui, the founding director, says her goal is to “contribute to a global story that recognizes Africa’s central role in the landscape of contemporary art”.
• Investec Cape Town Art Fair (16-18 February): Unbound is the curated theme of the 2024 edition of Africa’s largest art fair, and will focus on emerging and “unbound” voices. “Art is a strong catalyst in the midst of global challenges. It gives individuals a platform to speak, a space where different voices can be heard,” say the organizers. The 2024 show features 112 exhibitors from 24 countries, and more than 400 exhibiting artists made up of 54 different nationalities from around the globe.
• Dakar Biennale (May 16 to June 16): Known as Dak’Art, the biennale is a major contemporary arts exhibition that debuted in 1996 and opened to non-African nationals in 2014. It includes painting, graphite, photography and textiles. This year’s biennale is curated by art critic and composer Salimata Diop.
• ART X Lagos (October 31 to November 3): West Africa’s leading international art fair will include film, music, talks, and the ART X prize, a premier pan-African art award for up-and-coming artists. ones. Tokini Peterside-Schwebig, founder of ART X Lagos, said: “ART X Lagos remains a cornerstone of the African art industry. Our uniqueness and strength lies in our ability to gather a wide spectrum of artistic voices on one stage, from unconventional artist and renowned collectors, to Africa’s hottest new musical talents.”
