Since its founding in 2013 by Touria El Glaoui, 1-54 has grown into a leading global platform for African and diasporic art, with annual editions in London, New York, and Marrakech. It has shifted the landscape of art fairs by centring African perspectives and building networks across continents. Yet what makes the 2025 London edition particularly significant is its dual emphasis on the future and the past: presenting a bold selection of contemporary voices while highlighting the enduring importance of modern African masters.
Anchoring African modernismFor decades, the work of African modernists was overlooked in global narratives of modern art. While European and American counterparts were canonised, artists across Africa were building equally vital movements that often remained underrepresented in museums and markets.
This year, 1-54 foregrounds those histories. Tristan Hoare Gallery presents Seydou Keta and Malick Sidib, two Malian photographers who shaped the visual identity of Bamako in the mid-20th century. Keta's studio portraits, with their patterned backdrops and poised sitters, turned the photographic studio into a theatre of modern self-representation. Sidib's images, by contrast, chronicled the exuberance of Bamako's nightlife, its dancing bodies and youthful energy. Together, they transformed African photography into a language of liberation and joy. The gallery also shows works by Senegalese painter Gora M'Bengue, whose practice combined Wolof traditions with a modernist sensibility, articulating a visual vocabulary that was both deeply local and globally resonant.