Lines of Continuity: Mapping Presence Across Continents

From Lagos to London: 1-54 Art Fair Expands the Map of Today’s African Art

The 2025 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair bridged Lagos and London in a pan-African celebration that foregrounded presence—new and historic—within the global art community. More than 100 artists from across Africa and the diaspora brought work that spanned painting, sculpture, textiles, photography, and performance, with this year’s focus on Nigerian and South African creators for their material innovation and bold contemporary narratives. The fair’s curation actively linked the modernist roots of African art—paying respect to legends from Uche Okeke to Ben Enwonwu—with the urgent, future-facing voices shaping new terrain in European capitals.​

My Thoughts

The resonance of 1-54 lies in how it turns the act of showing up into a kind of offering. Presence, here, is less about “representation” and more about claiming space, making kin across oceans, and building a living archive in real time. Through collaborations, special projects, and vibrant new commissions—like Monica de Miranda’s courtyard installation on ecology and memory—the fair insists African art belongs at the center of the world’s present conversation. 1-54’s journey from Lagos to London isn’t just a matter of transport; it is a radical act of mapping, expanding whose work is seen, valued, and held close as a present for the future.​

WHITEWALL MAGAZINE