Skip to main content
Creative Women & Projects

10 Contemporary African Artists You Should Be Following

July 18, 2017July 24th, 2017

African Artists producing and breathing out living work in this day are the building blocks of the way we perceive the universe and possibly the multiverse. Art in itself is morphed in the interpretation that the creator, observer and consumer imbibe it to be & over time art has evolved, taken into account the different mediums, channels and communication modes that tells the story or non-story that the artwork is made for, reflecting the larger tendencies in our world.
Today’s artists work in and respond to a global environment that is culturally diverse, technologically advancing, and multifaceted.
So today, we reveal the depth and power of works of art that we are immersed in and aware of, by showcasing a couple of Female African Artists whose works are powerful, delightful, engaging, mind boggling. These women prove again and again that every human needs art:

Jamilla Okubo
Jamilla Okubo is a Kenyan-American Visual Artist, painter, and pattern and textile designer. She earned her BFA in Integrated Design at Parsons School of Design. Jamilla’s textile design art is influenced by her Kenyan and Trinidadian culture. Inspired by African American history, Kenyan textiles, and fashion, Jamilla Okubo creates patterns and textiles that speak to all of these interests but grounds them in her own experiences.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BWkYR1uhe0Z/

Njideka Akunyili Crosby
Njideka Akunyili Crosby‘s work is art that leaps at you from the paper! She is a Nigerian-born visual artist working in Los Angeles, California. Her works on paper combine collage, drawing, painting, printmaking, and photo transfers. Njideka Akunyili Crosby creates densely layered figurative visual art that conjures the complexity of contemporary experiences and everyday life.

Newest piece, Portals, on view @victoriamirogallery booth (pier 94, stand 600) at #thearmoryshow.

A post shared by Njideka Akunyili Crosby (@njidekaakunyilicrosby) on

Zohra Opoku
Zohra Opoku is a German/Ghanaian multidisciplinary artist living and working in Accra.
With a keen and disciplined eye for textile and design, Opoku employs installation, sculpture, and photography at the helm of her practice. She conceptualizes West African traditions, spirituality, the thread of family lineage as they relate to self-authorship and the politics of her hybrid identity.

..Dr. George Bob Kwabena Opoku and my mother Brigitte Gerda Marlies Jurk met in the summer of 1975 in Halle in the former East Germany (GDR) where they both were studying. I was born one year later. We were located behind the massive Berlin wall of communist East Germany. My father had to leave the GDR and return to Ghana when I was a newborn. My mother could not follow and was left behind as a young mother and since then was under constant surveillance by state security for any interaction with my father, but also her new husband, a government enemy who escaped to the West. For me, it became a remarkable story to unpack and one, which influenced my whole being, my decision later to become an artist and to assimilate belonging and identity into my art practice.. #unraveledthreads

A post shared by Zohra Opoku (@zohraopoku) on

Frances Okala
Frances Okala‘s intricate artworks are visual depictions of stories waiting to be told. Although an Architect by training, Frances embraced her inner life as an Artist by inspiration. After a long sojourn pursuing her chosen career, she returned to her calling and her true passion. Her art is inspired by culture and environment.

Party Girls #FrancesOkala #Art #AfricanArt #Inkwork #2017

A post shared by FrancesOkala (@francesokala) on

Garden of Eden #2016 #Frances

A post shared by FrancesOkala (@francesokala) on

Abigail Nnaji
Inspired by colors and fascinated with lines, Abuja based artist Abigail Nnaji allows herself an indulgence in expression. Her paintings are fusions of soulful elements and moments that are detailed, but simple.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BWcXm4pBBIb/?taken-by=abigail.nnaji

https://www.instagram.com/p/BV51k0yB80D/?taken-by=abigail.nnaji

Ndidi Emefiele
Ndidi Emefiele is a goddess of an artist who creates art from personal experiences lived out or from those around her. Her characters are often strong black females, often adorned with glasses and taking a stance that depicts the formidable. Ndidi Emefiele’s art is her means of protest and taking a stand for the feminine culture.

#flashbackfriday #blueroomdinner #rainbows

A post shared by Ndidi Emefiele (@ndidi_emefiele) on

Sunday Bubbles…#sermonsolong #bubblegumtime

A post shared by Ndidi Emefiele (@ndidi_emefiele) on

Florine Demosthene
Demosthene’s artwork examines how black culture is commodified and fetishized. Whether through paintings or drawings, she seeks to magnify the subtlety of racial constructs and how viewers have become comfortable with derogatory images.
Raised in Haiti, Florine Demosthene currently resides in Accra, Ghana, Johannesburg, South Africa and Brooklyn, New York.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BWqB66YF3uX/?taken-by=florinedemosthene

"All The Things I Ever Wanted"….thinking…digital collage

A post shared by Florine Demosthene (@florinedemosthene) on

Peju Alatise
Peju Alatise‘s work is always a vision to behold and unfold within the corners of your heart. She sees herself as an alien/sojourner, sent to this part of the world to work my work. Her Installation exhibited at Venice Biennale’s 57th edition is engraved in our minds.
Peju Alatise is a Nigerian artist, poet, writer and a fellow at the National Museum of African Art, part of the Smithsonian Institution.

FV: Do you remember any profound experience from your childhood that influences you as an artist today? PA: I come from a large family with many sisters and brothers. Both my parents worked so we were raised with a strict schedule. We always participated in after-school activities that kept us busy until dinnertime, followed by bedtime. I remember a Benenoise young woman called Ajua, our housekeeper who would tell us stories to help us fall asleep. Sometimes she told horrifying stories always accompanied with songs. We learned most of the songs, often drawn from Yoruba folklores. I remember most of the stories and songs and realize how ridiculous my fears were. There was the story of the monster who ate children that opened the door to strangers. There was a fearsome tree-like creature called Igbongbo that kidnapped a woman’s baby. Every time the woman begged for her baby, the creature would throw her a body-part of the child. This story was meant to help us name different parts of the human body. There was another story of a head without a body going from house to house borrowing body parts to become fully human. I was so frightened by the songs that I would hide under my bedcovers, bury my head in my pillow, and will myself to sleep. I would dream very disturbing dreams. Many years later I learned to pay attention to my dreams, they became a source of inspiration for my work as an artist. Ajua’s stories still provide some content for my own stories today.

A post shared by Peju Alatise (@peju.alatise) on

Sneak peek. Coming soon

A post shared by Peju Alatise (@peju.alatise) on

Modupeola Fadugba
Modupeola Fadugba is a multi-media artist working in painting, drawing, and socially-engaged installation. The Togo born artist whose work bends and twists your mind out of the ordinary proportion works at the nexus of science, politics, and art. Modupeola uses the most fascinating materials for her artwork and produces the most interesting results!

https://www.instagram.com/p/BUFORdqgZER/?taken-by=modupeola.fadugba

https://www.instagram.com/p/BVByXizgUxT/?taken-by=modupeola.fadugba

Delphine Diallo
Inspired by the courage and modesty of her motherland, Senegal, Delphine Diallo combines artistry with activism, pushing the many possibilities of empowering women, youth, and cultural minorities through visual provocation. She creates powerful portraitures that unmask and stir an uninhibited insight and vision that allows her audience to see beyond the facade.

We would love to add to this list! Share your favourite contemporary African Artist with us.

Featured Image is Jamilla Okuba via Rebloggy

You might also like:

15 African Female Illustrators that Totally Rock!
The Nerdy Art of Sayo Ajetunmobi
Illustrator, Shannon Wright Turns Black Hair Into Pop Art
Aisha Mohammed Reinterprets Van Gogh's Floral Paintings with Black Women
Yeside Osuolale Is The Creative Mind Behind The First Woman-Led Board Game Cafe in Southwest Nigeria...

Leave a Reply