The Knotted Ties Exhibition, part of the 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair, will run from 15 to 26 May in the lobby gallery at Christie's in New York.

The exhibition will bring together textile artworks by female artists from Africa and the diaspora on display in a physical fair that will also be available online.

According to a press release, the textile works on display at the Knotted Ties Exhibition will explore the medium’s capacity to shed light on “humanity’s entangled histories, challenging social landscapes and complex realities.”

“The global pandemic has meant that regretfully we have had to cancel our physical edition of 1-54 in New York for the second year in a row. Although we are sad not to be returning to our usual format, we are elated that our continued partnership and relationship with Christie’s has meant that we can once again exhibit the work of artists from Africa and its diaspora online via the auction house,” Touria El Glaoui, founding director of 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair told Art Newspaper.

This year's Fair is the third collaboration between Christie's and 1-54, with twenty-six international galleries billed to feature, and El Glaoui noted that "many of the artists, young and old, were affected by the pandemic, by the lockdowns that were so prevalent in the UK and South Africa, and they found peace through the repetitive gestures needed to work with textile, there was a meditative quality, a profound therapy within the work."

Participating textile artists include Tina Williams Brewer, who weaves complex, narrative “memory board” style quilts; Dindga McCannon, whose work replaces traditional quilting practices with the inclusion of metal and paper; Josie Love Roebuck who creates soulful, intricate portraits of trauma survivors with embroidery; and Lídia Lisbôa who created vibrant, dynamic fiber sculptures.

The exhibition is open for visits, which are by appointment only, from May 15 to 26. Meanwhile, the main 1-54 Fair, which is in its seventh installment, will be available online from May 17 to 23. While artworks from the fair will be up for sale on Artsy from May 19 – June 6.

Furthermore, the Ritzau Art Prize, which is awarded to late-emerging to mid-career artists from the African continent whose work is being exhibited at the fair, will make a comeback this year. The Prize will see the winning artist awarded a three-month residency at the International Studio & Curatorial Program.

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