In mid-September, the news took the world of culture by surprise. Contrary to the fine speeches of cooperation, the Ministry of Culture has ordered French public structures to cease all collaboration with Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso, three Sahel countries hit by putsches in recent months.
Among the victims of this decision, Abdoulaye Konaté: the great Malian artist, who has worked for years to promote his country’s scene, will not be able to travel to Paris. His colorful hangings, which collectors are snapping up for around 100,000 euros, will however be exhibited on AKAA (Also Known As Africa), the African art fairwhich takes place from October 20 to 22 at Carreau du Temple, in Paris.
Nothing, not even geopolitical imbroglios, can stem the growing interest in artists from the continent, the stars of this Parisian return to school. The young Cameroonian Ludovic Nkoth is in the spotlight at Maison La Roche, headquarters of the Le Corbusier Foundation. The perfumer Diptyque signs a partnership with the Malagasy artist Joël Andrianomearisoa as part of the Paris + by Art Basel fair, while the Palais de Tokyo dedicates an exhibition to the Algerian visual artist Dalila Dalléas Bouzar, crowned with the SAM Prize.
Acclaimed at less than 40 years old at the Documenta in Kassel and the Venice Biennale, two major events in current art, the Congolese Sammy Baloji displays at the Imane Farès gallery his photos, film and installation exploring the blind spots of colonization.
“Success stories”
This rich news almost makes us forget the skepticism that greeted the launch of AKKA in 2016. ” At first, it was a challenge to impose an African art fair, especially in Paris,” recognizes its founder, Victoria Mann. Other times, other manners. If the average purchase of visitors to its fair ranged between 5,000 and 10,000 euros in 2019, it rose to 12,000-25,000 euros three years later. In 2022, an installation by South African Esther Mahlangu, which transfers the abstract motifs of her Ndebele culture onto canvas, even sold for 300,000 euros.
Since the emergence of the Black Lives Matter movement, artists of African descent, particularly painters, have been popular. Over the past two years, several new Parisian brands, such as Christophe Person, have emerged alongside veterans like Imane Farès and André Magnin. And it is at the heart of the “golden triangle”, alongside palaces and starred restaurants, that gallery owners Cécile Fakhoury and Mariane Ibrahim now defend the colors of the continent.
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