Madlozi Contemporary Art | The Africa Salon Show

THE AFRICA SALON is an exhibition created in honour of the artistic talent and contemporary voices from the African continent as a celebration contributing to the visibility, excellence and success of the international art world. An exploration of the subjective gaze on identity in post-colonial contemporary Africa. Thirteen participating artists from six countries on the continent explore cultural diversity, notions of identity and belonging, themes around material survival, spirituality, modernity versus tradition, and freedom.

The exhibition is an imaginatively showcases new directions in contemporary art and diverse visual cultures on the continent. It presents an imaginatively curated space for reflecting on artmaking, identity and what makes us Africa in the salon, an intimate and symbolic place for the meeting of minds and ideas.

The Africa Salon represents a curated, intimate space for exploring evolving identities on the continent, and reflecting on a future focussed, urban Africa in motion. The salon is a vibrant space for innovation, connection and the communion of creative minds. The collection of works across disciplines including painting, ceramics, photography, performance and installation artworks.

Artists reflect on the rich complexity, history and dynamic mobility of Africans across the continent and throughout the diaspora globally.. They capture both their dreams but also their reality - socio-political, spiritual and economic contexts. Notions of past, present and future history expressions of cultural identity on a continuum through time connects the works in the exhibition, along with the digital universe and its role in progressing and shaping visual culture and identities in future.

Artistic ediums reflected in the exhibition include painting, mixed-media work, installation art, drawing, digital painting and prints, performance art and video / moving image artworks.

Collectively the artists contribute to the shared vision of a borderless and prosperous Africa - a future-focussed continent in confluence where dreams are not deferred in favour of survival and creative possibility is rewarded and expressed in our words and image, beyond imagining.

The AFRICA SALON is curated by Beathur Mgoza Baker and echoes the critical themes, values and pioneering intervention to reframe Africa in our own words and image set in motion by AFRICA REMIX – the standout international exhibition curated by Simon Njami, the respected intellectual and conceptual mastermind in 2004.

As a salute to Njami’s AFRICA REMIX and its critical role in opening up the art of a continent to the world Madlozi Contemporary Art presents this 2024 showcase of visual art and creative expression by new and established artists from across the continent from Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa and the DRC Congo. Each artists proudly embraces their diverse cultural idenitity and history. The AFRICA SALON exhibition is a homage to AFRICA REMIX and the vision of respected curator SIMON NJAMI.

This show runs from 7 November - 31 December 2024.