art market
Gameli Hamelo
Portrait of David Kalonji. Copyright Charlene Comontale. Provided by Avryat.
Charlene Komuntale, exterior view of Sit with Me – A Friart, 2023. Provided by Afriart.
When Art Basel Miami Beach opens this week, Afriart Gallery Uganda will host a “very special show” in the main gallery area, joining the likes of Gagosian, Pace and Hauser & Wirth.
While Afriart will be exhibiting in the fair’s “Rising Stars” and “Places” sections for three consecutive years from 2021 to 2023 (respectively dedicated to galleries showing work created within the past three years and galleries showing solo exhibitions of emerging artists), this For the first time it will take part in the main part of the expo.
“It means the Art Basel community understands how serious we are about what we do,” said Daudi Karungi, founder and director of the Kampala gallery, which has been credited with bringing in African artists ( especially artists from the eastern region). of the African continent – to an international audience.
“Beyond Sculpture” exhibition view at Afriart, 2024. Provided by Afriart.
The gallery will showcase the work of artists working with local materials. Ugandan artist Sanaa Gateja uses materials such as wood, raffia, banana fiber and discarded paper beads to create installations, tapestries and sculptures, while Ethiopian artist Fiker Solomon uses materials such as jute, sisal and cotton thread to create tapestries. Meanwhile, Ugandan artist Richard Atugonza creates sculptures using found materials such as sawdust, charcoal and glass. Afriart’s booth is a collaboration with Rele Gallery in Lagos, London and Los Angeles, showcasing the work of three African artists in the same booth.
“I think our presentation is fantastic and will be very successful,” Karungi told Artsy. He expects the booth’s materiality theme to tie in with “very, very exciting [and] Global Audience” attends Art Basel Miami Beach. He noted that the diverse offerings brought to the show span a range of artistic thinking, materials, community engagement and ages, from 30-year-old Solomon to 74-year-old Gaethje. He hopes the works on display will lead to “exciting results”.
How Afriart became a trendsetter across the continent
Before Afriart became a leading international contemporary gallery representing artists such as Ethiopian Kaleab Abate and Tanzanian Sungi Mlengeya, it was founded primarily as a solution to the problems of its founder, Karungi, and to some extent his art school colleagues.
In the early 2000s, Karungi needed a space in Uganda to display and sell his art, but couldn’t find anywhere. He noted that he solved this problem personally and “opened a gallery to help me solve this problem.” “Little did I know it was going to solve a lot of other people’s problems.”
It is against this backdrop that Karungi approaches his role with a “gallerist” mentality. [who] is an artist [and] Also a businessman. “He strives to ensure that he does everything he can to help the artists he works with succeed – not just financially, but in terms of their well-being.
This is reflected in Afriart’s approach, which Karungi says is “more of an incubator” than a traditional gallery focused solely on showing and selling work. “[About] 90% of our artists [represent] Have completed one of our residency programs or some kind of mentorship program. “
He points to projects in Kampala, including the Silhouette Projects artist-in-residence program known as the “Professional Growth Unit” and the Surfaces Concept Development Masterclass, a mentorship program that continues to play an important role in the gallery’s success. He said both initiatives provide artists with knowledge and insights to ensure they are not found wanting on the global stage or when meeting their peers in the international art community.
The projects also have the advantage of providing the gallery with an “exciting portfolio of gems”, some of which are in “different stages of development”, keeping its roster “fresh”. He added that the young new artists represented by the gallery “have a certain energy that they bring to the conversation about art making.”
Expand international network
Installation view of “Shapes of Water” at Afriart, 2022. Provided by Afriart.
As part of the gallery’s strategy to ensure visibility for the artists it works with, artists represented or exhibited by the gallery often appear in international exhibitions, including in museums.
Gallery roster artist Emmie Nume has just completed an 18-month residency at the Tracey Emin Artist Residency in Margate, UK. Most of the artists – including Gateja, Odur Ronald, Collin Sekajugo and Acaye Kerunen – have represented Uganda since the Venice Biennale first took place in 2022, he said. It was represented by a gallery at that time.
The gallery also regularly hosts international art fairs. In addition to Art Basel Miami Beach, it has participated in several global fairs, including Liste Art Fair, Art Dubai, ARCO Lisbon, Lagos Art Fair, Taipei Contemporary Art Fair, Expo Chicago and Investec Cape Town. expo. The strategy paid off for the gallery.
“That’s important to us because once we find an artist with good work, we can say, ‘OK, how do we put them in the right place for the right collectors, institutions and people ? ‘” Karungi said. “We’ve been doing this kind of work for a while and have had some great success.”
Last year, Afriart also began publishing books about its artists and exhibitions. The idea, Kalonji noted, is to allow future generations to read the work of these artists and prevent a situation where the artists and the work they are doing now are forgotten decades from now due to a lack of information. it’s done [the gallery’s] Tasks include support, guidance, visibility and archiving,” he said.
