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Curator's Note

KeO turns a girl's name into a playing card. There is a looping A in the corners, a mask at the centre, and in place of a body, a comb. Abi…

Curator's Note

Where ethnic sentiment is used to divide, Clement Obioha paints Nigeria's three largest peoples as one band: three instruments, three voice…

Curator's Note

The collar is the detail to find: wide, white and a little old-fashioned, worn with complete confidence. Ekundayo keeps her face in quick p…

Curator's Note

Seen from far above, a few tiny people cross a field of flowing black lines towards a pool on a raised white disc. Each trails a long shado…

Curator's Note

The power here is in the angle: she is turned away from us, looking forward. Then you find the map of Africa inked on her neck, and the por…

Curator's Note

Egyptian art usually kept its kings remote. Sandro Perovic gives his pharaoh a family and lets them touch. A hand rests on a shoulder, a ba…

Curator's Note

Deep blue-black skin, a gold halo, heavy pearls at the throat, arms folded close. Dayo turns the figure away from us and lowers the eyes, a…

Curator's Note

A fairy tale rewritten by someone it left out. Emmanuel's mermaid has an afro, a crown and an ocean that answers to her. For some children …

Curator's Note

Sisi is the Yoruba word for a young woman in her prime. Christian paints two of them mid-stride, one gazing up at the other as if the next …

Curator's Note

Look at her ears: two steel hex nuts where gold should be. Yemisi wears a crown of beaded tendrils and two sharpened red combs. KeO makes h…

Curator's Note

A ring of white light, one eye flaring like a star, an ochre robe over a bare shoulder. Dayo paints Christ as a young African man with a fu…

Curator's Note

Count the eyes: one closed, one open, one at the brow with a spiral for a pupil. Godwin removes the name from the face on purpose, so what …