Only eight African countries have national pavilions at the 2019 Venice Biennale. At this year’s Cairo International Fine Art Biennale (Cairo Biennale) we have ten, including Algeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal, Tunisia, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. Having said so, black and African artists still face many challenges, despite a recently surging global interest in African art. It is not always easy to fund African artists’ participation in exhibitions outside of their continent. Finance is one issue, but political instability in some countries leading to prolonged power struggles that affect the normal functioning of cultural agencies is another. Against this backdrop, Cairo has the unique advantage of its geographical proximity, prevailing artisanal traditions, the relative depth of its art industry as well as the willingness of cultural professionals and institutions to support one of the oldest biennales in Africa and the Middle East. The recent focus of the media and market on art created by black and African artists comes as a result of decades of patient advocacy and persistent hard work by generations of thought leaders and publishers, including Okwui Enwezor and Simon Njami (Revue Noire). Egypt’s…
Taking a Closer Look at African Artists at the Cairo Biennale 2019
June 19, 2019
