A continent. A diaspora.
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OPENING THE JOURNAL
Loading content…Art leaves a record. Return to the exhibitions, artists and ideas that continue to shape the conversation.
Browse by the original source publication date. Historical selections are reviewed and added over time; coverage is not exhaustive.
Browse daily editionsJérémie Mbuyi of Art et Élégance pour le Développement described new paid roles for street painters and sapeurs in Kinshasa. Speaking to ACP, he pointed to advertising-mural commissions and collaborations with local designers on image and colour. He argued that these practices could develop into small businesses and give local visual culture a stronger economic role.
In an ART AFRICA interview with Suzette Bell-Roberts, ICA director Nomusa Makhubu discusses taking live art beyond Cape Town’s established cultural centres. She describes partnerships with 16 on Lerotholi and Guga S’Thebe in KwaLanga, and the possibilities of free performances in public spaces. The conversation explores how participation, local histories and movement across the city shaped the festival’s approach. The 2026 festival ran from 14 to 18 October.
African Arts with Taj reported a call for a two-month residency at La Campagne Tropicana in Ibeju-Lekki, scheduled for 5 February–4 April 2027. The host’s statement invited Nigeria-based practitioners in visual and applied arts, crafts and design to submit proposals by 30 November. It outlined time for research or new work and a concluding presentation, with participation and support arrangements to be agreed in writing before places are confirmed.
BUALA outlines Coimbra’s Afro-Portugal festival, whose visual-arts programme includes O Nosso Lugar no Agora at Casa da Esquina and a residency for two young Afro-descendant artists. The exhibition brings together eight emerging practitioners. Across exhibitions, film and discussion, the festival asks how African and Afro-descendant creators can shape their representation and futures in Portugal.
Writing in C& América Latina, Inés Sybille examined how Cherish Menzo and Camilo Mejía use movement, sound and changing stage materials in DARKMATTER. Reflecting on a Barcelona performance she saw in April, the critic connected its slowed gestures and shifting bodily forms with Black diasporic ways of imagining other possibilities. Her October essay treats the performers’ transformation of the stage as integral to the work’s exploration of visibility.
In BUALA, Júlia Barata discusses adapting Isabela Figueiredo’s Caderno de Memórias Coloniais into graphic narrative. Drawing on her childhood in post-independence Maputo, she reflects on privilege, racism and the visual possibilities of watercolour. The interview connects her treatment of colonial memory with experimental comics, everyday feminism and collective learning in Buenos Aires.
Jamaica's National Gallery is keeping Of Wood and Water: The Scotiabank Collection on view until November 1. The exhibition pairs Scotiabank Jamaica holdings with works from the national collection, exploring land, natural forces, people and spirituality. An October 13 announcement also outlined a related curators' discussion scheduled for October 17. That date has passed, so the current visitor news is the exhibition's extended run.
Vitória’s municipal government announced Turmalina, an exhibition of twelve Black women photographers at Mucane, scheduled for 20 October–20 November. Curated by Taynara Barreto and Tamara dos Santos, the presentation foregrounds varied artistic approaches, including Afrofuturism. The announcement emphasises imagination and creative freedom beyond accounts of suffering, with mediated visits intended to bring audiences into conversation with the artists’ visual choices.
Zeitz MOCAA has announced Were It Not for Shadows, bringing together six Cape Town artists who took part in its Koyo Kouoh Atelier residency programme. Curated by Phokeng Setai, the exhibition will present installations, tapestries, sculpture and photography connected to their time at the museum. Scheduled for 12 November 2026 to 29 August 2027, it considers the experimentation and studio work that precede public exhibitions, according to the museum’s announcement.
Réunionese artist Brandon Gercara’s exhibition Destin Vogoya at La Ferme du Buisson combines performance and visual art with a fictional world of queer protagonists. ART AFRICA describes how the work brings Réunion’s maloya tradition into conversation with voguing to explore cultural memory, identity and collective liberation.
ART AFRICA reports that Steve McQueen’s 66–76–26 at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao places two unaccompanied recordings of Wild Is the Wind in dialogue. Nina Simone’s 1966 performance and David Bowie’s 1976 version are heard from opposite ends of a darkened room. Curated by Lekha Hileman, the installation shifts attention from images to listening, memory and emotional expression. The exhibition continues until 21 February 2027.
Victor Ehikhamenor’s first Australian solo exhibition brings questions of displacement and cultural memory to the Chau Chak Wing Museum. ART AFRICA reports that the Nigerian artist connects communities in Sydney, Cairo and Port Harcourt, while a partnership with Blacktown Arts includes mentoring for African and African-descended creatives.
Swaline Mkhonto and Zovuyo Pendu’s Site Forming brings together printmaking, installation and figurative painting at Johannesburg’s Bag Factory Artists’ Studios. ART AFRICA describes the exhibition as the culmination of their 2025/2026 Young Womxn Studio Bursary. Mkhonto explores bodily memory and fragmented space, while Pendu examines faith and the unconscious. The presentation includes curatorial input from Penina Chalumbira and collaboration with members of the Letsema collective.
ART AFRICA reports on Fighting for Freedom: Black Craftspeople and the Pursuit of Independence at Charleston’s Gibbes Museum of Art. Bringing together more than 30 objects, the exhibition examines how free and enslaved Black makers used their skills to negotiate identity and agency. Organised with the Black Craftspeople Digital Archive, the presentation spans furniture, ceramics, textiles and other material traditions, with announced dates of 16 October 2026 to 9 May 2027.
Mozambican artist Euridice Zaituna Kala’s Daylighting: aber es ist Wasser, das spricht at Kunsthalle Münster examines how colonial archives shape remembrance and erase experiences. ART AFRICA describes installations, performances, paintings, objects and books engaging with representations of Black bodies and the power to record history. Curated by Merle Radtke, the Münster presentation adds new works to an exhibition previously shown in Rennes and Brussels.
Senegal’s National Gallery has brought works by recent Salon national des arts visuels laureates to Louga’s Mademba Diop regional cultural centre. Running through October 21, the touring exhibition is paired with training in portfolios, digital tools and art-market access, extending the institution’s programme beyond Dakar and supporting artists working in the regions.
Congolese painter Meshack Kadima says the public’s continuing engagement with his work matters more to him than trophies. In an ACP interview following his recognition at the Mwinda Awards, he credited supporters who share his paintings and follow his practice. Kadima also described everyday concerns as central to his work, explaining that he wants his paintings to connect with the lives of his audience.
ACP examined an untitled acrylic painting by Congolese artist Misoko Ngusu through the observations of critic John Bongenya. He read the central female figure, blue setting, vegetation and birds as connections between femininity, nature and spirituality. The report focuses on how colour, texture and symbolism shape his interpretation of the work, without identifying a new exhibition or a creation date.