Inside 1-54 London: Artists Redefining the Future of African Art and its Diaspora

1-54 London is officially underway and with it, a vivid reminder that contemporary African art is not a monolith but a constellation. The fair, now in its twelfth year, gathers artists and galleries whose works traverse geographies of history, memory, and imagination. A personal favourite, 1-54 has become less an event than a pulse, through which the ever-expanding narrative of African and diasporic art continues to take shape. Founded in 2013, the fair remains singular in its mission: to gather under one roof the multiplicity of Africa’s artistic voices and their far-reaching constellations in the diaspora. It’s a space where the global conversation on modernity is quietly, and decisively rewritten. At Somerset House, amid the building’s stately geometry, the works resonate in dialogue between history and reinvention.

Yet in a European context, fairs and institutions alike often struggle with what might be called the difference between representation and responsibility. As I’ve previously written, “we are quick to critique, but slow to act.” The art world, so fluent in the language of inclusion, often stumbles when translating rhetoric into structure. Tokenistic change, when institutions appear to engage with underrepresented voices without committing to lasting transformation, remains a persistent ghost in the galleries of Europe.

1-54, however, gestures toward something more sustained: a reorientation of gaze and method. Here, African and diasporic artists are not participants in a trend but architects of the contemporary. Their work expands not only aesthetic vocabularies but the moral and historical frameworks through which we view art itself. Through its constellation of galleries, conversations, and special projects, 1-54 offers a living counter-argument to institutional complacency, a fair that does not simply show art from Africa but listens to it. The result is a chorus of practices that rethink how global art histories are written, who gets to write them, and whose voices are finally being heard.

Here are my curated picks of artists to watch this year, voices shaping new cartographies of form, material, and meaning.

On view until 19 October, Somerset House, Strand, London.

AMINA REZKI

LOFT ART GALLERY

Moroccan-artist Amina Rezki, born 1962 in Tangier, is a painter and illustrator currently working out of Brussels. Trained at the Académie des Beaux-Arts and Académie d’Arts d’Uccle, Rezki paused her career to raise her eight children, and has since returned to her artistic pursuits. Her work explores human emotion through her distinct style of portraiture, characterised by its expressive nature. Rezki’s practice centres on evocative portraiture, using acrylic inks, pigments,and charcoal on paper as her preferred media. Guided by instinct, she captures intense human emotions through dynamic, sometimes obscured, faces and silhouettes. Her technique involves layering, scratching, and reworking surfaces to evoke a sense of inner turmoil and existential depth. Amina Rezki has showcased her work at prominent international fairs and events including the 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair in London (2023) and Paris (2022), as well as the 2017 International Art Symposium in Aqaba, Jordan.

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AYOOLA GBOLAHAN

THE 1987

Ayoola Gbolahan is a multidisciplinary artist based in Lagos, where he studied Fine and Applied Arts at Obafemi Awolowo University. Raised between Christian and Yoruba traditional practices, his work explores duality, ancestral legacy, spiritual symbolism, and postcolonial identity through a deeply intuitive and visionary approach. Gbolahan’s practice spans painting, sculpture, and print, using symbolic color, indigenous scripts, and surreal figurative to interrogate womanhood, mythology, and transformation. His process draws from dreams, anthropology, and Yoruba cosmology, bridging the personal and the metaphysical. Recipient of the Denis Diderot Grant and National Art Competition Award, Gbolahan’s Blue Woman figure offers a mythic lens on identity and value. Gbolahan has exhibited events such as the 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair (2023) and the Dakar Biennale OFF (2024), and his work can be found in public and private collections, including the Oyebode Collection, World Bank, and Nigerian National Gallery. 

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AFEEZ ONAKOYA

O’DA ART

Born and raised in Lagos, Afeez Onakoya is a Nigerian artist whose work celebrates the human form. A graduate of the Yaba College of Education, he is a visionary artist who channels deep reflections of human emotion through charcoal. His art explores the intrinsic value of human life and the universal quest for self-improvement. For Onakoya, charcoal is more than a medium, it is a tool for profound expression. Every stroke and smudge tells a story of human struggle, resilience, and aspiration. His work is a visual poetry that seeks to define the essence of existence, capturing emotions, dreams, and the complexities of life. Onakoya’s work has been displayed across Nigeria and the UK in exhibitions such as  Ties That Bind at O'DA Art, Lagos (2025); Centre of Fantasy also at Oda Art Gallery (2024); D.R.A.W.I.N.G.S, a Popup show curated by Atanda Adebayo, Lagos (2024); and Freedom in Multitude at Gallery 1897, London (2024).

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AGAIN CHOKUWAMBA

FIRST FLOOR GALLERY HARARE

Born and based in Harare, Zimbabwe, Again Chokuwamba graduated from the National Gallery Visual Arts Studios in 2021. His debut solo, Incipience of Responsibility exhibited at the First Floor Gallery Harare in 2023, won Best Emerging Artist at the Zimbabwe Visual Art Awards. In 2024, he participated in the exclusive exhibition Kuvhunura: The Harare School hosted by the Fondation Blachère in Bonnieux, France. Chokuwamba’s practice using oil paints investigates urban life in Harare’s high-density suburbs, focusing on human interaction and his community. Drawing on music, mirrors, and everyday observation, his analytical approach highlights the interconnections of thought, feeling, and behavior, prompting reflection on individual and collective meaning within contemporary human experience. His most recent exhibitions include, Kusvika Parizvino at First Floor Gallery Harare in 2025 and Drowning in my Senses, a solo exhibition also at First Floor Gallery Harare, in 2024.

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AMANI LEWIS

MINDY SOLOMON GALLERY

Born on Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland, Amani Lewis comes from a military family. With encouragement from their grandmother, Lewis pursued a formal education in art and received a BFA in General Fine Arts and Illustration from Maryland Institute College of Art in 2016. Using acrylic, glitter, and digital collage on canvas, Lewis’ portraits exist to chronicle how the people in their life have shaped and contributed to their growth. As of late, Lewis has also incorporated religious iconography, reflecting on their Christian faith with imagery of angels, prophets, spirits and light energy. Lewis’ work can be found in public and private collections including at Chicago Booth, London; Perez Art Museum, Miami; De la Cruz Collection, Miami; and Westmoreland Museum, Pennsylvania. Lewis has also had solo and group exhibitions at the Mindy Solomon Gallery, Miami; Lévy Gorvy Dayan, Paris; Salon 94, New York; and the Gavlak Gallery, Los Angeles.

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1-54 London succeeds not merely by showcasing art, but by unsettling the hierarchies that have long defined who gets to speak, and from where. Each work, each encounter, reminds us that art from Africa and its diaspora does not exist on the periphery of global modernity, but at its centre, constantly reshaping it. If the fair teaches us anything, it’s that visibility is not an end point but an ever-shifting horizon, one that demands both curiosity and care.