About

This site is about art from Africa, or by or about Africa or Africans, in London. The aim is to share information, listings and ideas.

The main focus is on contemporary visual art, but other things may pop up from time to time.

That’s it, really, but a word or two about the thinking behind the site might be helpful…

The problem with “contemporary African art” is that in some ways, there’s no such thing; however, the reasons why people think there may be no such thing seem to fall into two distinct and quite different categories:

1. art from the continent of Africa is so diverse that it cannot be lumped together in one category

2. there is not much art being produced in Africa, and certainly not the ‘contemporary’ kind

Unfortunately, while the first argument is by far the most sensible one, in my experience, many people in the UK who don’t have special interests or experience in this area lean towards the second view, perhaps mostly due to lack of information. And even for those who do take an active interest in contemporary art, African or otherwise, working out what’s going on in London can be a challenge. That being the case, I think that a website about the many and varied forms of art currently being produced in and about Africa or by Africans, on view in London right now, in a way which acknowledges African connections without being limited by them, is surely no bad thing. This site is not primarily intended to be a place to discuss these issues, as there are many other better forums for doing so; however, any comments on this and related matters will be appreciated, and responded to.

Please feel free to contact me if there’s anything you’d like to see featured here. (You can also contact me if there’s anything I’ve posted that you’d prefer NOT to see featured here, although of course I’d rather you didn’t…)

Thanks!