London’s 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair enters its final day at Somerset House on Sunday, 18 October, bringing together 40 galleries and a broad programme that places African modernists, contemporary artists and diaspora voices in direct conversation.
The public session runs from 11am to 6pm, according to the fair’s official 2026 programme. Now in its 14th consecutive London edition, 1-54 has expanded beyond a conventional art market event into a cultural meeting point where questions of history, memory, material, authorship and economic value are explored across gallery booths, installations and live projects.
Africa’s modernists return to the centre
A defining feature of this year’s edition is West Wind, an exhibition curated by Johannesburg-born art historian Dr Nancy Dantas. Inspired by Miriam Makeba’s 1966 song and its call for African unity, the project brings together artists whose work helped shape modern African art during the mid-20th century.
The presentation includes works by Alexander “Skunder” Boghossian, Bertina Lopes, Gerard Sekoto, Kofi Antubam, Sam Ntiro, Papa Ibra Tall, Uzo Egonu, Baya, Rafik El Kamel and Ibrahim El-Salahi. Their inclusion matters because African modernism has often been treated as a supporting chapter in histories written elsewhere, rather than as a field generated by artists responding to independence, cultural recovery and new national identities on their own terms.
1-54 founding director Touria El Glaoui said the edition places African artists “where they belong: as authors of modern and contemporary art history”. That principle connects the historical spotlight with the fair’s contemporary presentations.
Nigerian galleries and artists in the frame
Nigeria has a visible presence across the fair. Lagos galleries 16/16 and Yenwa Gallery are making their London debuts, while Affinity Gallery is showing Nigerian textile artist Samuel Nnorom alongside Buqaqawuli Nobakada and Joke Amusan. Other participating Nigerian artists include Victoria Oniosun, Ekene Emeka-Maduka, Ebenezer Samuel Akinola, Jonah Bulus, Deborah Segun and Mobolaji Ogunrosoye.
For Nigerian and African visitors in Britain, that presence is more than symbolic. International fairs can connect artists and galleries to collectors, institutions, curators and critics whose decisions influence exhibition opportunities and long-term careers. At the same time, a strong African-led platform helps prevent the continent’s creative production from being presented only through outside interpretation.
Folasade Ologundudu’s (Re)Casting the Canon extends that argument into arts writing. The research-led initiative invites visitors to look closely at works, question inherited art-historical narratives and contribute to a living archive. It treats criticism and documentation as part of cultural preservation, not simply as commentary after an exhibition has closed.
Heritage, climate and the value of materials
The special projects programme gives traditional materials and communal practices a contemporary setting. Our Canvas Grows From The Soil, presented by Borderlands Art, connects Uganda and Ghana through barkcloth. Artists Gloria Kiconco, Piloya Irene and Othello De’Souza-Hartley use the material for sculpture, textiles, photography and painting while drawing attention to an ancient renewable practice in which bark is harvested without killing the tree.
In Somerset House’s courtyard, Martin Wöllenstein’s Flowing Upstream, developed with Romeo Addai-Boateng Akoto of Ghana’s Supreme Masqueraders Society and Perve Galeria, draws on discarded Ankos masquerade costumes. The installation uses sound, moving image, light and performance to examine how materials and cultural practices travel between West Africa and Europe. Its final free performance is scheduled for 2pm on Sunday and lasts about 36 minutes.
Another project, Commodity / Couture by Accra-based Midunu Institute, follows Ghanaian cocoa from farm to finished product. Through scent, field recordings, cocoa sacks and a brass cocoa pod made by an Ashanti artisan in Kumasi, the installation asks visitors to consider how much value remains at the point of origin. It turns a familiar export story into an encounter with labour, craft and unequal global exchange.
Moroccan artist Hassan Hajjaj’s My London Rockstars brings the diaspora dimension into focus through portraits of artists, musicians and designers shaping the capital’s culture. His visual language combines North African street aesthetics, fashion, popular culture and traditional studio portraiture, showing how African identities in London continue to evolve rather than sit inside a fixed definition.
Why the final day matters
1-54 takes its name from the 54 countries of Africa and was founded in 2013 by El Glaoui. Its annual editions in London, Marrakech and New York have helped create a recurring international platform for artists and galleries from the continent and its diaspora.
The London fair’s final day offers a compact opportunity to see that ecosystem in one place. Visitors can move from post-independence modernism to experimental writing, barkcloth, cocoa, portraiture, furniture and masquerade without treating any single medium or region as representative of the whole continent.
Those planning to attend should check ticket availability and access information on the official 1-54 website before travelling. The fair closes at 6pm at Somerset House, Strand, London, while the courtyard performance of Flowing Upstream is free and does not require advance booking.
