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.
ART AFRICA·
Chau Chak Wing Museum, Sydney, photographed in 2021. The image shows the museum, not Victor Ehikhamenor’s exhibition.Nick-D · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Cropped
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.
Africans Column’s guide to 1-54 London selected 20 women artists across generations, including Bertina Lopes, Baya, Esther Mahlangu, Thandiwe Muriu and Theresah Ankomah. Its account connected painting, photography, ceramics and textiles with questions of cultural memory and representation, while discussing the fair’s African Modernism spotlight. Published ahead of the 15–18 October fair at Somerset House, the selection reflected the announced programme rather than a definitive ranking or a post-event assessment.
APS’s cultural calendar places Dak’Art’s sixteenth edition from 19 November to 19 December, with the former Palais de Justice hosting its international exhibition and national pavilions. The agency also lists a Saint-Louis cinema and photography salon for 26–28 November and the inauguration of Musée Griot-tes in Tambacounda on 3–5 December, including a group exhibition and discussions. Together, the planned events extend the visual-art programme beyond Dakar.
An exhibition at Dakar’s Museum of Black Civilisations revealed visual-art practices among Senegalese police officers during the first Police culturelle event. APS describes photographs by Ousseynou Faye, paintings and collage, an electronic-waste installation by Dieylani, and Betty Tendeng’s reused-straw picture frames. The presentation formed part of a broader programme also including music and sport.
African Arts with Taj reported ArtLab Gallery’s plans for Fragments, a presentation of small-format works by six Nigerian artists in Ikeja, Lagos. Scheduled for 17 October–3 November, the exhibition brings together practices concerned with memory, identity and everyday life. ArtLab’s Timi Balogun described miniature works as an invitation to slow, close viewing, setting the exhibition’s intimate scale against the prominence of large-format art.
Black Liquid Art Gallery in Rome is presenting Nirveda Alleck’s Spread Over the Ocean Bed from 10 October to 5 December 2026. Curated by Antonella Pisilli, the exhibition pairs the Mauritian artist’s video Insular Variations II – Arise with seven paintings made between 2017 and 2024. C& and the gallery frame the presentation around submerged histories and identity; the gallery describes it as Alleck’s first Italian solo show.
Amoako Boafo’s The Home I Have Never Had opened at Mariane Ibrahim in Paris on 19 October 2026 and is scheduled to run through 19 December. The gallery describes an interior-like installation combining recent portraits, including paintings with embroidery, with works dating to 2016. C& lists the exhibition as an exploration of home and belonging through people close to the Ghanaian artist.
APS highlighted photographer Ina Thiam’s exhibition En mouvement, en lumière at the Institut français de Dakar ahead of the Youth Olympic Games. Its short accompanying report describes a focus on Senegalese women athletes, photographed in several cities. The presentation places women’s participation in sport at the centre of a public photographic display.
MAP reporting published by Madar21 described Mohamed El Jamaati’s solo exhibition À travers la fenêtre at Kent Gallery in Tangier. Watercolours and acrylic paintings draw on Tétouan’s buildings, balconies and windows, bringing new works together with paintings from the 1980s and 1990s. El Jamaati discussed making charcoal lines, canvas structure and colour transitions visible as part of his continuing experimentation. The exhibition was scheduled to run until 9 November.
An illustrated environmental education book by Gaëlle Mabanza brings artist Lepa Mabila Saye’s work into a project about relations between people and wildlife. Culture Congo reports that a mock-up of Dispute interminable was presented to the Congolese conservation institute on October 2. Publication is planned for March 2027, with the project intended for educational use.
Congolese artist Cédrick Sungo is preparing a five-sculpture installation for the inaugural Festival International de Sculpture de Cotonou, scheduled for October 26–30. Working with assembled wire and cut metal, he explores relations between people and their environment. Culture Congo places his contribution within the festival’s “Retour aux sources” theme and a four-artist delegation from the DRC.
Culture Congo profiles Kinshasa photographer Nathanael Milambo, whose work follows people, sport and cultural life across the city. He describes photography as a way to preserve memories and make overlooked stories visible. The profile also records his recognition for aesthetic expression and photography at the Mwinda Awards, held in Kinshasa on October 3.
In an interview with ACP, Aïcha Muteba announced Rencontre, an exhibition of around twenty previously unseen works scheduled to open in Kinshasa on 20 October. The painter presented the event as a return to audiences and collectors at home, inviting them to explore the messages within a vivid, semi-abstract practice concerned with Congolese society. Muteba’s wider work also encompasses street performance and installation.
ACP reported that Congolese painter Samuel Mbombo Ilunga presented Art Brings People Together at an autumn festival in Fort Worth, Texas. Cultural organiser Rosalie Ilunga described how participants’ signatures around the composition made the painting a collective undertaking. Its central rooted cross connects themes of faith, cultural inheritance and belonging. The report situated Mbombo’s work within efforts to use art as a meeting place across cultures and generations.
