Axis Gallery at 1-54, London

Join Us

Oumar Ka, 1930-2020

Untitled (Mother and Daughter), 1959-68

Gelatin Silver Print, 17" x 17” | 43.2 x 43.2 cm. Edition: 7 + 3 AP

Visit us at

1-54 Contemporary Art Fair

London

Oumar Ka

Kongo Astronauts

BOOTH EMB6

VIP + Press Preview

Thursday 10 October, 11:00 – 19:00 [by invitation only]

Public + VIP Opening Hours

Friday 11- Saturday 12 October, 11:00 – 19:00

Sunday 13 October, 11:00 – 18:00

Somerset House

Embankment

Strand, London

WC2R 1LA

United Kingdom

Kongo Astronauts

Intrication quantique (Quantum entanglement), 2021

Pigment print on Canson Photosatin RC paper. 100 x 151 cm / 39 ⅜” x 59 ½” Edition: 5+2 AP

Saturday, October 12th at 1-54

Axis Presents

New Publications on Photography in Africa

Join this roundtable to learn about photography and cinema in Africa with scholars, critics, and artists, who will discuss the histories and futures of these media. Giulia Paoletti will introduce her new book Portrait & Place: Photography in Senegal, 1840-1960 (Princeton University Press, 2024), a visual journey that starts with the oldest-surviving daguerreotype from West Africa from the 1840s, all the way to the itinerant practice of modernists like Oumar Ka in the 1960s. Amy Sall will present her latest publication, The African Gaze: Photography, Cinema and Power (Thames & Hudson, 2024), which offers a comprehensive exploration of postcolonial and contemporary photography and cinema from Africa. Drawing from archival imagery and documents, interviews, and contributions from writers, scholars, and curators, it maps a comprehensive introduction to African moving and still imagery. Amy Sarr will discuss her photographic practice, which focuses on cultural identity, the ambiguity that can arise while studying it, and how the former and latter affect and come into play within social and personal experiences. With a particular interest in disseminating her native Senegalese culture, Sarr interrogates themes revolving around collective memory, gender roles, migration, tradition, diaspora, and cultural exchange.

Moderator:

Christopher Pinney, Emeritus Professor of Anthropology and Visual Culture, Dept. of Anthropology, University College, London.

Panelists:

Giulia Paoletti, Associate Professor, Art History, University of Virginia

Amy Sall, writer, independent researcher, collector-archivist and founding editor of SUNU: Journal of African Affairs, Critical Thought + Aesthetics

Amy Sarr, Senegalese artist specialized in analog photography

Paoletti, Sall and Sarr will be available in the 1-54 Bookshop after the dialogue from 12 -12:45PM so you can get a signed copy of their groundbreaking books.

Saturday, 12 October

Somerset House, Screening Room

11:00 – 12:00

Book signing:

1-54 Book Shop (next to WatcHouse Cafe)

12:00 – 12:45

Oumar Ka, 1930-2020

Untitled (Man in a Courtyard), 1959-68

Gelatin Silver Print

17" x 17” | 43.2 x 43.2 cm. Edition: 7 + 3 AP

Sunday, October 13th at 1-54, London

Eléonore Hellio of Kongo Astronauts

will participate in

ART AS A TOOL FOR CHANGE:

THE POTENTIAL OF CONGOLESE CONTEMPORARY ART ON THE GLOBAL ART STAGE

This discussion will delve into the contemporary art scene in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), exploring the various actors at play, including artists, curators, art schools, galleries, museums and foundations, working to nurture Congolese art at home and abroad. It will focus predominantly on the aesthetic and didactic richness of contemporary Congolese art often documenting and relaying present-day and past environmental, post-colonial, and socio-economic challenges in the DRC. The conversation will also discuss the challenges and opportunities for artists and art professionals from the DRC at home, within Africa, and within the greater international art arena.

Moderator: Rebecca Proctor

Panelists:

Adriana La Lime (Sotheby’s)

Dana Endundo Ferreira (Pavillon 54)

Maryse Aoun Naaman (Africell Impact Foundation)

Alain Nsiona Defise (The Defise Foundation)

Eléonore Hellio (Artist, Kongo Astronauts)

Time: 16:00 – 17:00

Location: Somerset House screening room

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Axis Gallery | 212-741-2582 | info@axisgallery.com | axis.gallery

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