The 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair has unveiled an ambitious programme of Special Projects for its 13th London edition, set to run at Somerset House from 16–19 October 2025. Widely regarded as the leading international platform dedicated to contemporary art from Africa and the African diaspora, the fair’s latest edition promises to be a defining moment in cultural programming. This year’s selection of installations, performances, and archival explorations brings together a wide array of artists, collectives, and institutions from across Africa and the global diaspora. The programme underscores 1-54’s commitment to fostering artistic innovation, critical discourse, and transnational cultural exchange.
At the heart of this year’s edition is Earthworks, a large-scale courtyard installation by Angolan-Portuguese artist Mónica de Miranda. Commissioned by Somerset House and the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, the project transforms the historic courtyard into a living social sculpture of vertical gardens and stage-like structures. De Miranda’s work draws on themes of ecology, decoloniality, and collective memory, reimagining public space as an archive of shared survival. Inspired by Achille Mbembe’s philosophical reflections on terrestrial communities, Earthworks offers a participatory space where audiences can engage with nature as a co-creator rather than a passive backdrop. The installation will also host performances, dialogues, and community actions, turning Somerset House into an evolving ecosystem of art and thought.
Another highlight is The Sartorial Spirit of Punk Tailors, a project by the collective Art Comes First. Known for blending African craftsmanship with British tailoring, the collective introduces its philosophy of “Punk Tailoring” — a practice that both honours tradition and challenges convention. Through garments that are constructed, deconstructed, and rebuilt, the project pays homage to Savile Row while simultaneously defying the rigidity of classic tailoring. Spanning multiple rooms, the immersive installation reflects on how rebellion and discipline can coexist in craft. Accompanying this exhibition is a collaborative capsule collection with 1-54, bridging fashion and art in a dialogue about heritage and innovation.
Zambia also takes centre stage through The Inherited Counter-Archive, a conceptual installation by Everyday Lusaka Gallery. Curated by Sana Ginwalla and featuring the work of veteran photographer Alick Phiri, the project revisits Lusaka’s Fine Art Studios, the first photographic studio for Black clients in 1950s Zambia. The installation combines digitised archival images, Phiri’s intimate portraits, and new screenprints to probe themes of memory, identity, and diaspora. By revisiting the legacy of Indian-Gujarati photographer Prabhubhai Vilas, who founded the original studio, Everyday Lusaka constructs a counter-archive that challenges colonial histories while celebrating resistance and everyday life in Lusaka.
Seed Archives contributes to the programme with Form, Feeling, an installation rooted in West African and Caribbean rituals of learning and memory. The project reimagines the archive not as a static collection of documents but as a living, participatory practice centred on touch and presence. Drawing from traditions in The Gambia, Senegal, and Mali, the installation fosters collective learning through sensory engagement and shared stories. By disrupting conventional forms of knowledge, Seed Archives repositions cultural memory as a communal and embodied experience, encouraging visitors to reconsider how histories are preserved and transmitted.
A particularly ambitious project comes from filmmaker and artist Kahlil Joseph, whose BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions expands his radical cinematic experiment into physical space. Presented by Rich Spirit, the installation immerses visitors in a multi-sensory environment of moving images, soundscapes, and archival material. The work integrates pages from Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience, video works displayed on multiple screens, and original costumes from Grace Wales-Bonner’s designs. By situating BLKNWS within a continuum of Black cultural production, Joseph bridges cinema, journalism, and installation art, offering audiences new ways of experiencing collective memory and imagination.
The fair also features ęmí: freedomsong, a ritual-led audio-visual project by Rohan Ayinde and Tayo Rapoport, curated by Zarina Rossheart. Inspired by bell hooks’ seminal text All About Love and Camille Sapara Barton’s Tending Grief, the installation uses collective song as a transformative force. With performances by six vocalists, including artists anaiis and Tawiah, the project turns grief into resistance and love into protest. Interwoven contributions from artists such as Asmaa Jama and Alberta Whittle further deepen the installation’s exploration of censorship, erasure, and resilience. At its core, the work reclaims revolutionary song as a shared language of survival and solidarity.
Congolese-Belgian artist Leonard Pongo adds another layer of depth with Primordial Earth, presented by Project Loop. This site-specific installation reimagines the landscapes of the Democratic Republic of Congo as autonomous forces. Blending photography, textile weaving, and printmaking, Pongo creates allegorical environments that oscillate between genesis, apocalypse, and rebirth. His work draws on Congolese mythologies, positioning the land itself as both storyteller and subject, thereby challenging Western anthropocentric perspectives of nature and place.
Further projects include Egyptian artist Aliaa Elgready’s Worlds: Between Fragmentation and Imagination, which uses embroidery to weave fragmented narratives into layered visual landscapes; and British-Ugandan artist Lakwena Maciver’s How We Build a Home, presented by Vigo Gallery, which transforms found materials from East London’s Ridley Road Market into vibrant affirmations of hope, belonging, and resilience. Each of these works situates itself within broader conversations about migration, community, and the labour of building home.
Rounding out the programme, Somerset House will host Jennie Baptiste: Rhythm & Roots, the first major solo exhibition by the Black British photographer known for her iconic portraits of musicians like Roots Manuva, Estelle, and Ms Dynamite. Spanning three decades, the exhibition reflects on the intersections of music, fashion, youth culture, and Black British identity. Baptiste’s rarely seen archival works will also be displayed, offering visitors an intimate look at the cultural histories that have shaped Britain’s creative landscape.
As 1-54 celebrates its 13th anniversary in London, the fair continues to cement its reputation as a vital platform for contemporary African art and diasporic narratives. By presenting works that span continents, mediums, and generations, the fair not only showcases the dynamism of African creativity but also affirms the importance of cultural exchange in a globalised world. In 2025, Somerset House becomes more than a venue — it becomes a living archive of resilience, imagination, and interconnectedness.
