In a year marked by closures, cancellations and postponements, African art fairs are going ahead with new models and the continent’s galleries are growing.
While many European and US art fairs, biennials and other larger cultural events have been—and continue to be—cancelled or postponed well into 2021 due to concerns related to Covid-19, their African counterparts are going ahead—with caution. They are, however, finding not only support but success, stoking optimism for more emerging markets amid a global economic downturn....
Overall, a sense of optimism has pervaded the African art market, despite market volatility and the overnight evaporation of global art fair traffic. The continent’s local collector base has found its foothold in recent years, according to many dealers, making them less dependent on Western fairs to reach buyers. That is why, for instance, two new galleries—kó, founded by the established dealer Kavita Chellaram, and ADA, founded by the art adviser Adora Mba—have opened this autumn in Lagos and Accra, Ghana, respectively....