Peterside-Schwebig is the visionary behind Art X, the art fair/cultural festival hybrid that has been called Africa’s answer to Frieze. This year’s 10th anniversary edition features a glittering, genre-crossing line-up that goes beyond the traditional art gallery walls: a major retrospective of the late photographer JD ‘Okhai Ojeikere’s work; screenings of films from French-Senegalese director Mati Diop (Dahomey) and British-Nigerian filmmaker Akinola Davies Jr (My Father’s Shadow); and a live performance by highlife revivalists The Cavemen. “The landscape was very different 10 years ago,” Peterside-Schwebig recalls. “Of course there was no shortage of talented artists, but there was a disconnect. There were fewer galleries, fewer public spaces to explore the arts… I was thinking about the growing numbers of artists – especially young people who wanted to be artists – and how we could maximize the audience for them. Similar things were happening with our neighbours around Africa. So there was this desire to connect with Nigeria. They were seeing Nigeria as a country that could really be harnessed as a power base for the continent. I wanted to create ArtX as a space that would be a bridge for Nigeria with the rest of Africa, but also the rest of the world, because we know the potential of our city,” she explains. “We know the power in our narratives, but the rest of the world doesn’t always get to see that.” Her conviction paid off.
So, how does this cultural awakening sustain itself after the applause quietens? “One of the things that’s really remarkable about this generation of artists [in the Tate Modern show],” offers Bonsu, “is that they wove oral histories, poetry and forms of mythmaking into their work, so that future generations could understand better where they were coming from. I really hope that this show sparks a sense of cultural exchange and dialogue intergenerationally, that people go to their mothers, grandmothers, relatives, to ask questions around storytelling and the importance of cultural knowledge.”
The support of art fairs, says Chellaram, is key – Twins Seven Seven is the subject of a solo presentation in Spotlight at Frieze Masters this year, and was also in Adriano Pedrosa’s Venice Biennale exhibition last year. “An enduring market and support of patrons enables long term support for these cultural masterpieces,” she points out. “Through this, we are filling important gaps in the global narrative and completing the international art historical canon.” Disu believes Nigeria’s maturing ecosystem will continue to be essential to its artistic longevity. “That is what is paying off; the global connections, artists feeling they can actually come – whether from New York or London – spend time in Nigeria and meet a community of peers actively thinking about new ways to express their ideas. There is a sense of excitement and a keenness not to let this really important moment go. We are not going to squander it.”
