2 Contemporary African Artists You Should Know

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Africa’s contemporary art scene is characterized by a dynamic list of exceptional artists whose aesthetic innovation and conceptual profundity has paved the way for the next generation. Using their creations to interpret and portray Africa’s socio-economic realities, political challenges, rich traditions, and diverse beauty, these leading and emerging artists continue to influence the evolution of contemporary art in Africa. We profile ten contemporary African artists you should know.

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Born in Durban, South Africa and currently residing in Johannesburg, Tracey Rose is an established contemporary multimedia artist and outspoken feminist, best known for her bold performances, video installations, and arresting photographic works. Rose confronts the politics of identity, including sexual, body, racial, and gender issues. Rose’s themes often convey her multicultural ancestry, and the experience of her mixed-race reality in South Africa. She skillfully combines elements of popular culture with sociological theories to evoke powerful depictions of South Africa’s political and social landscape. Rose has held solo exhibitions in South Africa as well as Europe and America, and has participated in a number of international events to include the Venice Biennale.

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10 Contemporary African Artists You Should Know
Africa / ART
10 Contemporary African Artists You Should Know
Picture of Lilian Diarra
Lilian Diarra
Updated: 11 January 2018
Africa’s contemporary art scene is characterized by a dynamic list of exceptional artists whose aesthetic innovation and conceptual profundity has paved the way for the next generation. Using their creations to interpret and portray Africa’s socio-economic realities, political challenges, rich traditions, and diverse beauty, these leading and emerging artists continue to influence the evolution of contemporary art in Africa. We profile ten contemporary African artists you should know.

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Tracey Rose MAQUEII 2002 Lambda print 118 x 118 cm Edition of 6 © Courtesy Goodman Gallery
Tracey Rose MAQUEII 2002 Lambda print 118 x 118 cm Edition of 6 © Courtesy Goodman Gallery
Meschac Gaba

Born in Benin, Meschac Gaba garnered critical acclaim for his traveling exhibition titled Museum of Contemporary African Art, inaugurated in 1997 at Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum. Created in the form of a nomadic exhibition space, Gaba’s extraordinary project consisted of 12 exhibition rooms set up across various European art institutions over five years in an attempt to place African art in front of international audiences. In 2013, the Tate Modern purchased and showcased Gaba’s entire ‘museum’. His work depicts themes of fashion in the Summer Collection Room and food in the Museum Restaurant, to the excessive overproduction of food in the Draft Room. Employing local craftsmanship and presented with a European flair, Gaba’s works vary from paintings and ceramics to multimedia installations employing materials such as paint, plywood, plaster, stones, and decommissioned bank notes.

Kudzanai Chiurai

Exiled from his native Zimbabwe after fearlessly producing an inflammatory image depicting Robert Mugabe, the country’s infamous leader, with horns and swallowed by flames in 2009, Kudzanai Chiurai now lives and works in Johannesburg. Chiurai was the first black recipient of a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Pretoria, and has since become an important figure in the African contemporary art scene. Chiurai uses dramatic multimedia compositions to confront and challenge the most pressing issues in the southern African region, from government corruption to conflict and violence, xenophobia, and displacement. Chiurai’s work is brutally honest, tearing apart the status quo and confronting the state of African governments through a mixture of digital photography, printing, painting, and more recently, film.