At 1-54 Paris, Marrakesh is never far away

For the second year in a row, 1-54 art fair takes over Christie’s Paris from 7 to 10 April 2022. But Marrakesh is still on mind…

Due to the current health situation, Touria El Glaoui, founding director of the fair said that it is « with a heavy heart » that the edition of the fair 1-54 Marrakech had to be postponed to 2023.

The close collaboration between the auction house and the fair testifies to the demand and attractiveness, ever stronger, of contemporary African art. Although Christie’s does not have a department dedicated to this category, many works have been sold, such as Wonder Buhle Mbambo’s The Hearts on the first of October 2021 for $175,000 in New-York.

This 2022 edition is a testament to a growing fair as it welcomes 23 art galleries from around the world, three more than in the previous edition. Galleries from South Africa, Nigeria and Ghana give a glimpse of the richness of the English-speaking scenes, less known to the Parisian public. Hoa Galeria, based in São Paulo and London, is also drawing new geographies, lifting the veil on Afro-Brazilian culture with sculptures inspired by Yoruba culture by Mestre Didi or lithographs by Sidney Amaral that question the representation of the black body in brazilian art. On the Moroccan side, the Casablanca’s galleries African Arty, Loft Art Gallery and La Galerie 38 have made the trip and are exhibiting artists well known by market players such as the excellent Nigerian portrait painter Chiderah Bosah, Mous Lamrabat or Abdoulaye Konaté.

Marrakesh as a backdrop

Although the Marrakesh edition has been postponed to 2023, the Moroccan scene really shines through this Parisian edition. We find Amina Benbouchta at Sabrina Amrani’s, Anuar Khalifi at the booth of the Dubai gallery The Third Line, Mahi Binebine, Hicham Benouhoud and Fatiha Zemmouri at Katharina Maria Raab’s or Omar Mahfoudi presented by Afikaris. The FORUM talks programme, curated by the Director of Collections at Sharjah Art Foundation, Dr. Omar Kholeif, opens its session on Saturday 9 April with Hassan Hajjaj discussing the cultural fabric in Marrakesh and then with Anuar Khalifi on neo-expressionism in contemporary art.

The programme is rich while 1-54 celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. Touria el Glaoui’s fair, which is open to the public this time, is proposing two special projects: an immersion in the retro-futuristic universe of Tunisian artist Aicha Snoussi (read our work in progress) and the African Space Art Project (ASAP) by the N.E.T. collective, which, on the occasion of the launch of a satellite over the African continent, will adorn the fairing of the Ariane V rocket, scheduled to take off into space in December 2022.

Once again this year, 1-54 is partnering with Artsy to discover all the works online until 14 April.

Yasmina El Gueddari with Emmanuelle Outtier