The African Code: How Continental Art Becomes a BRICS Force
Karolina Koval - specially for infoBRICS
-"African art" is often treated as a monolith in Western media. How would you describe the distinct artistic ecosystems currently emerging in key BRICS African nations like South Africa, Egypt, and potentially Ethiopia or Nigeria?
- Thousands of cultures encompassing over 3,000 distinct ethnic groups, from the Dogon of Mali to the Zulu of South Africa, to the Igbo’s of Nigeria, each with separate aesthetic rules. African Art is to diverse to be classified as a monolith. African art has always been deeply advanced and versatile. While Western artists were still trying to paint things exactly as they looked, African sculptors were already breaking shapes down into bold geometry inline with distinctive aesthetic rules and spiritual symbols. For example, the striking, angular faces of Fang and Kota has no similar aesthetic with the Ori Olokun of the Yoruba’s or the Idia mask of Benin kingdom.
These art forms completely blew Western artists away because they had never seen anything so radical. When Pablo Picasso saw these African masks in Paris in 1907, it changed everything for him; he copied their sharp angles to paint Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, which basically started the Cubism movement. At the same time, Henri Matisse used the flat, powerful patterns of Congolese art to rewrite the rules of color, and German painters used the intense, distorted shapes of African carvings to show raw human emotion. Ultimately, African artists didn't just influence Modern art, they created its foundational blueprint through its versatile forms and divers aesthetics.
Unfortunately, Africans were forced away from their art through colonial violence, looting and introduction of foreign religions. Today, the African art ecosystem is gradually breaking off from relying on Tate or Venice to thrive. Each key BRICS African nation reflects a highly distinct identity driven by local economies, institutional support, and historical contexts. There is a good number of growing institutions with younger millennials and Gen Z collectors demanding to own and protect indigenous narratives and promote African stories and history.
What is so remarkable to witness is that this cultural revival and creative awakening is not confined to one country, city or one community. It is happening across the length and breadth of our great Africa, all at once. It feels as though the whole continent has awakened to tell its own story.
A renewed sense of confidence is emerging across Africa. We are embracing who we are and recognising the value of what we contribute to the world. Instead of seeking approval beyond our shores, we are creating from a place of conviction, drawing strength from our histories while envisioning bold new futures. We find pride upholding the Sankofa, Nsibidi,
Adinkra, and Ndebele geometric patterns, forms, proportion and stories. Across the continent, artists, thinkers, innovators, and dreamers are reshaping Africa’s global story. They are doing so not through politics or headlines, but through culture, creativity, and an unwavering belief in what is possible.
In years to come, this moment will be recognised as a pivotal chapter in Africa’s cultural evolution. We are fortunate to witness it firsthand, as a continent reclaims its voice, redefines its identity, and shapes its future on its own terms.
- For decades, the validation of African art was largely gate kept by institutions in London, Paris, and New York. How has the rise of local biennales (like Dak’Art or the Lagos Biennial) and regional art fairs shifted the center of gravity?
- The idea of building cultural infrastructure so Africa can becomes the primary benefactor of its own culture is the real long game. The rise of African biennales and regional art fairs has not simply created more exhibition opportunities; it has redistributed cultural authority. By allowing African artists, curators and institutions to define artistic narratives from within their own contexts, these platforms have shifted the centre of gravity from external validation towards local agency, while creating a more multipolar global art ecosystem.
For much of the twentieth century, international recognition for African artists was mediated by museums, galleries, curators and collectors based in Europe and North America. Validation often came only after an artist had been exhibited in London, Paris or New York, creating an unequal relationship where African artistic narratives were largely interpreted through Western institutions.
These local biennales had created platforms for African artists and curators to shape discourse. Take Rahima Gambo for instance, She stands out as a prime example of an artist whose growth is heavily intertwined with major continental institutions. She gained critical momentum at the inauguralLagos Biennial in 2017, where her site-specific installation inside a disused train wagon explored the impact of the Boko Haram insurgency on education, solidifying her transition from traditional documentary photography into conceptual, spatial contemporary art. This Lagos breakthrough expanded her institutional profile significantly, leading to her selection for major contemporary platforms like the Dakar Biennale (Dak’Art). Ultimately, the global curatorial lens of Dak'Art elevated her multimedia storytelling, experimental video, and"walking"practices directly into international museum circuits.
These institutions have created cultural infrastructure where the world travel to Africa rather than waiting for African art to arrive in Europe and as well created opportunities for local audiences to engage directly with contemporary art.
- We are seeing a boom in digital art and NFTs across the continent. Is this technology serving as a true democratization tool for African artists to bypass traditional gatekeepers, or is it creating new barriers to entry?
- As someone whose work examines technology through electronic waste, I see digital platforms in a similar way. Every technology creates possibilities while also exposing inequalities. The question is not simply whether NFTs democratize art in, but who has the resources to participate in that democratization. For African artists, the conversation must include access, infrastructure, and sustainability and not just innovation.
The rise of digital art and NFTs has undoubtedly opened new possibilities for African artists, but I think the reality is more nuanced than simply calling it a democratization tool. It has created new opportunities while also revealing new forms of exclusion. When NFTs first emerged, they offered a compelling vision of a more open art ecosystem. Artists no longer had to rely exclusively on galleries, museums, or established institutions to reach collectors. In theory, anyone with an internet connection could create, mint, and sell work to a global audience. For many African artists, this represented an opportunity to bypass traditional gatekeepers that have historically shaped whose work is seen, valued, and collected. It also introduced ideas such as direct engagement with collectors, ownership through blockchain technology, and royalties from secondary sales features that could potentially give artists greater agency over their careers.
However, access to technology does not automatically translate into equal opportunity. Many of the barriers that existed in the traditional art world have simply taken different forms. Participating in the NFT ecosystem requires reliable internet, digital literacy, access to cryptocurrency, suitable devices, and familiarity with rapidly evolving technologies. These are resources that are not equally available across the continent. In addition, visibility within digital spaces is often driven by algorithms, online communities, marketing strategies, and existing social networks. This means that artists with larger audiences or stronger digital infrastructure continue to enjoy significant advantages.
That said, I don’t think the significance of digital art and NFTs should be measured solely by market performance. They have quite expanded the ways African artists can participate in global conversations. For insincere, an artist in Lagos, Nairobi, Accra, or Kigali can build an international audience through digital platforms without waiting for international institutional validation. This shift in visibility and agency is significant, but not everyone can walk through it equally.
- How are contemporary African artists reconciling traditional heritage with hyper-modernity? Are we moving past"Afrofuturism"as a trend toward something more grounded in current socio-political realities?
- I believe this is one of the most important conversations in contemporary African art because it challenges the assumption that African artists must choose between “tradition” and “modernity.” Significantly seen with the historical art revolution of Zaria art society in 1958. Increasingly, we are refusing that binary altogether. Traditional heritage is no longer being treated as something to preserve in a museum or simply reproduce. Instead, artists are using it as a living archive. something that can be questioned, remixed, and expanded through contemporary technologies, new materials, and global experiences.
Rather than recreating indigenous weaving techniques, bronze casting, beadwork, masquerade traditions, or oral histories., many artists are translating their underlying philosophies into installations, digital media, AI, virtual reality, sound, and conceptual practices. I believe these practices has positioned heritage more as a methodology rather than an aesthetic. The same is true for artists working with industrial or technological waste. Electronic components, plastics, discarded machinery, and surveillance technologies become contemporary equivalents of traditional materials because they speak to today’s realities of consumption, globalization, extraction, and digital life in Africa.
The result is not a conflict between the ancestral and the futuristic rather it is a recognition that African societies have always negotiated multiple temporalities simultaneously. I do think we are moving beyond Afrofuturism not because it has become irrelevant, but because its language is no longer sufficient on its own.
Afrofuturism emerged as a powerful framework for imagining Black futures outside colonial narratives. However, many contemporary African artists are less interested in speculative futures than in the urgency of the present.
We are constantly hunted by environmental injustice, increasing migration and displacement issues, artificial intelligence and algorithmic bias, electronic waste, resource extraction, political instability, amongst many other vices.
Rather than imagining Africa in the year 2200, artists are asking what it means to live in Lagos, Nairobi, Johannesburg, Dakar, or Kinshasa today. This is more about expansion than rejection of Afrofuturism. the work has become more materially grounded. Artists are increasingly asking not only what future can we imagine? but also who has access today, who benefits from the resources, who is excluded, and what histories are we creating?
The most compelling artists today are showing that heritage and hyper-modernity are not opposing forces but interconnected systems that continually shape one another. The conversation has shifted from imagining an African future to interrogating the conditions under which African futures are already being made.
- BRICS has historically focused on trade, finance, and energy. Where does culture and the arts fit into the current expansion agenda? Is there a deliberate strategy to use"soft power"through art, or is it merely a byproduct of economic cooperation?
- Integration of art into the BRICS expansion. To me it looks like a deliberate strategy rather than simply a byproduct of economic cooperation. While trade, finance, and infrastructure remain at the core of BRICS, culture has the power to build trust, shape perception, and create lasting people-to-people connections.
The establishment of cultural platforms like BRICS Alliance of Art Museums and Galleries, the BRICS Arts Association and other collaborations among BRICS countries suggests that the alliance recognizes art as an important form of soft power. It allows member nations to tell their own stories, celebrate their histories, and present their artistic identities from their own perspectives.
I also think culture has economic value. The creative industries, from visual arts and film to fashion and digital media can contribute to innovation, employment, tourism, and investment. Supporting these sectors alongside broader economic goals makes the partnership more holistic and sustainable.
As an artist, I love the opportunity for dialogue and exchange. Art creates spaces where people from different cultures can learn from one another, challenge assumptions, and collaborate across borders. For me, that is why culture is becoming a vital part of the BRICS agenda. Art has the power to strengthens not only economic partnerships but also the human relationships that make those partnerships meaningful.
- China and India have massive, established art markets. How can African nations leverage BRICS partnerships to build their own market infrastructure - museums, auction houses, and collector bases without simply becoming satellite markets for Asian collectors?
- As we clearly know that one of the key goals of brick is to expand the reach within the bloc. Through initiatives like the BRICS Alliance of Art Museums and Galleries, China and India have used the framework as a diplomatic platform. It allows their already established art sectors to bypass Western auction houses and directly trade, exhibit, and build cultural soft power across the Global South. I think these are areas where African countries can learn through collaboration while developing models that reflect our own cultural realities.
African member nations like Egypt, Ethiopia South Africa and the wider continent must shift from being mere exporters of raw talent to becoming institutional anchors. I believe Africa must invest in its own cultural infrastructure. We need more museums, stronger galleries, auction houses, residency programmes, arts funding, and, most importantly, a growing community of local collectors who are committed to supporting African artists because a thriving art market is built not only by talented artists but also by the institutions and people who sustain creative practice.
- What is BRICS for you?
- For me, BRICS is the recognition that no single nation or culture holds a monopoly on progress, knowledge, or creativity. It represents the possibility of a world where different histories, perspectives, and imaginations can exist in dialogue rather than in hierarchy. As an artist, I see BRICS as an invitation to contribute to a future where collaboration replaces dependence, where cultural exchange becomes as valuable as economic exchange, and where we create not only stronger economies but also a richer, more connected human story.
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