Contemporary African Art
The following is a curated list of resources that showcase the work of contemporary African visual artists. Each entry includes the artist’s name, country of origin, a brief description of their chosen medium(s), and a link to an online resource dedicated to their work.
Contemporary African Visual Artists
Malian artist Abdoulaye Konaté’s work is a stunning combination of painting and textile-based installation.
Through his work, Cameroonian mixed media, Afro-Expressionist artist Okpu-Egbe engages in political discourse on colonialism and neocolonialism.
Morrocan artist Amina Aguenznay creates monumental-scale collective installations that exist at the intersection of architecture, design, fashion, and artisanal weaving techniques.
Mozambican painter Cassi Nomada creates figurative portraits that serve as post-colonial narratives.
Togolese artist Clay Apenouvon manipulates everyday packaging materials such as cardboard and plastic wrap in his work to explore consumerism, trade, and memorialization.
Kenyan multi-media artist, painter, and sculptor Cyrus Kaiburu repurposes discarded materials to create futuristic, wearable masks.
Ghanian sculptor El Anatsui creates large-scale installations using clay, wood, and repurposed materials to make social and political commentary.
Ethiopian painter Julie Mehretu creates large-scale abstract expressionist works inspired by aerial mapping and architecture.
In his photo montages, Zimbabwean artist and activist Kudzanai Chiurai examines the complexities of the effects of colonialism on contemporary African nations.
Beninese mixed-media artist Romuald Hazoumè repurposes recycled materials to create striking assemblage pieces. In his most recent body of work, Hazoumè uses bidon, 50-liter plastic storage containers which are often used to transport gasoline illegally from Nigeria, to create masks.
Kenyan sculptor Wangechi Mutu uses natural materials to explore feminism, environmentalism, and Afrofuturism.
Nigerian-American painter and sculptor Victor Ekpuk reimagines Nsibidi, an ancient Nigerian communication system, to explore historical, contemporary, and sacred narratives.
Visual activist Zanele Muholi uses self-portraiture and photographs to represent the many voices and stories of Black LGBTQ+ people living in South Africa.
Additional Resources
Africa State of Mind, curated by the Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD), is an international touring exhibition that showcases work from artists from 11 different countries. The exhibition seeks to combat racist stereotypes through photographic explorations of contemporary African identities.
African Artists: From 1882 to Now is an excellent resource for the visual art classroom. The book is an encyclopedia of visual artists from all across the continent from the beginning of the 19th century to today.
This Newsweek article showcases the work of several artists that fuse the tradition with the contemporary to create masks.
The MoAd is a contemporary art museum dedicated to showcasing art from the African Diaspora. The museum is located in San Francisco, California.
Currently showing at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art in Washington, DC, I Am is an exhibition dedicated to showcasing the work of contemporary women artists of Africa. The exhibition explores the significant ways in which multi-disciplinary and multi-generational women artists from the continent engage in critical discourse surrounding the environment, politics, race, sexuality, activism, identity, and class through their work.