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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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