contemporary african artlatest news & developments
Collective interpretation: Decorex is shaped by designers, curators and collaborators from across Africa and beyond. Photo: Screenshot

Soft Life: Inside Decorex Africa’s most intimate theme yet

At Decorex Africa 2026, soft life shifts from aesthetic trend to cultural enquiry, asking how design can hold space for rest, identity and a more intentional way of living

Shamilla Aasha’s The Healing Alchemy 2025

Generations in conversation: Tandazani Dhlakama curates across time

Tandazani Dhlakama’s Generations section at the Investec Cape Town Art Fair pairs artists across borders and eras to reveal the quiet continuity shaping contemporary African art

Convergence: Trevor Stuurman’s beaded bicycle, the centrepiece of the exhibition A Grammar of Belonging, is an object where his personal memory and colonial history converge. Photos:
Supplied

Where memory meets movement

‘A Grammar of Belonging’ reframes home as something carried within the body, shaped by memory, history and shared traditions of making

Felabration: Commemorative 76th birthday anniversary poster print
of Nigerian nationalist and Godfather of afrobeat, Fela Anikulapo Kuti.
Photo: Sindiso Nyoni

Drawing Change: How David Tshabalala and Sindiso Nyoni Turn Design into social power

From classrooms in Bloemfontein and Bulawayo to global exhibitions, David Tshabalala and Sindiso Nyoni turn creativity into social impact

Have a blast: A saxophonist performs at a previous edition of Heritage Day celebrations. Photo: Supplied

Diary: Heritage Day at Zeitz MOCAA, Friends of Feya Faku in Durban, Poetry at Market Theatre

Your essential dose of art and culture

Wall to wall: FNB Art Joburg will be on at the Sandton Convention Centre from 5 to 7 September

Diary: FNB Joburg Art Fair, Hendrick Monyeki and Open Book Festival

Your essential dose of art and culture

Powerful: Siki Jo-An will perform with her band at the University of KwaZulu-Natal next month.

Diary: Siki Jo-An Live in Durban, BMW Art Generation at Nirox Sculpture Park and the Namaqualand Flower Festival 2025

Your essential dose of art and culture

Consuming passion: Nolan Oswald Dennis’s installation garden for Fanon, in which earthworms turn a book by 20th-century political philosopher Frantz Fanon into soil. Photos: Anthea Pokroy

The garden that eats Frantz Fanon

Artist Nolan Oswald Dennis’s installation turns theory into soil, questioning who gets to decide what’s important — and why

What does it mean to truly take your time? Artist shows us through a devotion to detail that transforms everyday materials into meditations on life, loss and transformation

Walter Oltmann and the alchemy of wire

What does it mean to truly take your time? Artist shows us through a devotion to detail that transforms everyday materials into meditations on life, loss and transformation

Siyazila: Siyababa Atelier and the sacred syntax of style

Mtshali’s latest collection renders death not as absence, but presence — grief draped in beauty, ritual and defiance

Fair deal: The RMB Latitudes Art Fair is happening at Shepstone Gardens in Johannesburg from 23 to 25 May, providing a showcase for both up-and-coming as well as established artists and for galleries and independent creatives.

State of the art: RMB Latitudes Art Fair returns

The latest edition of the pan-African art fair reshaping how we experience, collect and connect through contemporary African art is here

Mbali Tshabalala has been chosen to take part in the Tyburn Foundation’s new residency initiative

Space to shape and create

New residencies give African artists time to reflect, collaborate and evolve beyond commercial constraints

Pro tips: Seasoned FNB Art Joburg fair-goers say buyers can purchase valuable art, especially from emerging artists, young artists and women artists, and after the VIP pre-viewing sales frenzy has passed.

Your guide to FNB Art Joburg

It’s a busy, buzzy day of viewing, so make sure you’re wearing comfy shoes, and carry water

Bambo Sibiya’s exhibition Ngemva Kokuqubuka (After Precarity), on at the Circa Gallery in Rosebank, Johannesburg, until 27 July, features work such as Minki and Hlehle. Photo supplied

Visual artist Bambo Sibiya’s new exhibition is a powerful tribute to resilience and African identity

Exhibiting internationally is important as far as opportunity goes, says Sibiya, but returning home is as necessary