When 2021 began, the question on many people’s lips was: will there be a mass return to in-person meetings for art events, fairs, and exhibitions, away from the limitations of virtual meetings and online viewings? As the year progressed, the international roll-out of vaccines to combat the COVID-19 pandemic and the practice of social distancing, hand washing and sanitizing, and the wearing of nose masks ensured that physical gatherings returned and with that, all the events that were either canceled, postponed or held virtually in 2020 came back with full – okay, almost full – force in 2021.

For the African art scene, 2021 couldn’t have been a more prosperous year as the appreciation and collection of African art pieces expanded on a global basis, and African artists made exhibitions, fairs, and auctions headlines from Europe to America to Asia.

2021 marked the year the repatriation of colonial-era looted African art from Western countries where they have been in museums and universities for several decades to the African country they originated from was actually put into action, and not merely a concept debated online, on the pages of newspapers or at art conferences. It was also the year works by an African artist were taken to space on a historical voyage aboard Jeff Bezos’ rocket. 

As African art was selling out at auctions and as NFTs, and being displayed as the main attraction at numerous exhibitions and festivals in Europe and North America, on the continent, art events also took center stage and moved from obscure, exclusive events to mainstream activities for people from all walks of life. From Egypt to Ethiopia to Senegal to Nigeria to Congo to Kenya to South Africa, art events sprang up and dominated public discourse as established and emerging artists rose in profile. From a brilliant roll-call of hundreds of art events that took place on the continent in 2021, here are five that were phenomenal for us at Aworanka:

1. ART X Lagos: The sixth edition of the much-anticipated art fair on the African continent took place from the 4th to the 7th of November, 2021, in Lagos. Nigeria, marking the first in-person fair of 2021. It brought together 30 leading galleries from around the world and also partnered with the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art to stage “24 Hours of the Smithsonian in Lagos”, which brought together the U.S., Nigeria, and African diaspora through the worlds of film, art, photography, and fashion.

2. Les Rencontres de Bamako (Bamako Encounters – African Photography Biennale): The 13th edition of this long-running African Biennial of Photography began on the 20th of November 2021 and runs to the 20th of January 2022. It honors the photography medium and its contemporary artistic usages under the theme ‘On Multiplicity, Difference, Becoming, and Heritage’. This biennale comes second only to the prestigious Dak’Art Contemporary art Bienniale which will make a return in 2022 after being postponed in 2020. 

3. 'Framing Her' Art Exhibition: On the 9th of October 2021, the premier online marketplace for African art and gallery aggregator Aworanka partnered with GAIA Africa to present an exhibition of contemporary African art featuring a collection of eighty-three artworks from nineteen different artists. ‘Framing Her’ seeks to provoke conversations around the roles of men and women in different aspects of modern life and it runs till January 2022 in Lagos, Nigeria.

4. Chale Wote Street Arts Festival: This colorful and upbeat festival brings art, music, dance, and performances out of the galleries onto the streets of James Town, Accra, Ghana, in August. Once a small artist-led festival with experimental beginnings, Chale Wote is now an established tourist attraction that attracts thousands of visitors each year.

5. Egypt International Art Fair 2021: The second iteration of this art festival that showcased more than 120 Arab artists was held from February 26-28 in Cairo. Aside from paintings, which dominated the fair, video art installations as well as an interactive exhibit titled Letters to the Future also featured.