Efiɛ Gallery

Now on view at the 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia (@labiennale ): Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons’s (@maria_magdalena_campos_pons ) Anatomy of the Magnolia Tree for Koyo Kouoh and Toni Morrison (2026) is a monument in floral form. Eight tall panels hold portraits of Morrison, the first Black woman to win the Nobel Prize in literature, and Kouoh, the first African woman to curate the Biennale Arte, while seven sculptures in resin and glass express forms of the magnolia, the iconic flower of the American South. Anchored in Black women’s solidarity, the work holds its subjects in relation across disciplines, generations and geographies. Kouoh and Morrison each devoted their work to the minor keys — “the quiet tones, lower frequencies, hums, consolations of poetry”, as Kouoh wrote in her curatorial statement. Morrison’s novels are love letters to the interior lives of Black women, while Kouoh cultivates gardens for Global South artists who contend with what Morrison described as “unyielding earth” in The Bluest Eye. Through the installation’s scale, Campos-Pons performs a quiet inversion, making the minor major. In tandem, a soundscape by Kamaal Malak (@kamaalmalak ) — bass guitar, synthesizers and layered loops in minor keys — treats lower frequencies as the room’s very architecture. Together, portraits and sound form a duet, inviting us to listen for the frequencies through which Black women’s work keeps remaking the world. —Grace Aneiza Ali (@grace_aneiza_ali ) ——— Photos courtesy of the artist

‘In Abstracto, In Concreto: On Memory and Presence’ curated by Brice Arséne Yonkeu (@iambayn ) Opening this evening, this group exhibition brings together an encounter with works on paper and paintings by leading contemporary artists: Luke Agada (@lukechidiagada ), Tunji Adeniyi-Jones (@tunjiaj ), Ludovic Nkoth (@lnkoth ) and Naïla Opiangah (@bouenguidi ). “Three interwoven threads run through the exhibition without dividing it into fixed zones. The first follows the surfaces where memory and inheritance accumulate, where what has been endured leaves its mark on form itself. The second traces the generative transformation that occurs when inherited material passes through mythological or surrealist registers, producing new lineages and hybrid worlds. The third attends to the body as a site of tenderness and care, insisted upon in its fullness, protected in its vulnerability. These threads interpenetrate across works and across practices, carried by materials that share a quality of immediacy and vulnerability.” - Brice Arséne Yonkeu ——— Photos courtesy of Efie Gallery and artists #EfiɛGallery #EfieGallery

Join us at Booth C2 for the Special Edition of Art Dubai (@artdubai ) on the occasion of the fair’s 20th Anniversary. Featured Artists: Kelani Abass (@abass.kelani ) J.K. Bruce-Vanderpuije (@deogratiasstudio ) Samuel Fosso (@sam.fosso ) María Magdalena Campos-Pons (@maria_magdalena_campos_pons ) Abdoulaye Konate Aïda Muluneh (@aidamuluneh ) Maggie Otieno (@themaggieotieno ) Yaw Owusu (@_yawowusu ) On view from 14th - 17th May, 2026 ——— Photos courtesy of Efie Gallery and artists #EfiɛGallery #EfieGallery

Maggie Otieno (@themaggieotieno ) and Aïda Muluneh (@aidamuluneh ) now on view at Fondazione Marchesani, Venice, through 10 July 2026, as part of Resonance, a major interdisciplinary exhibition presented by Vanderbilt University Engine for Art, Democracy & Justice (@eadj.program ) during the 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia (@labiennale ), with artistic direction by María Magdalena Campos-Pons (@maria_magdalena_campos_pons ) and Kamaal Malak (@kamaalmalak ). Curated by Grace Aneiza Ali (@grace_aneiza_ali ) and Selene Wendt (@selenewendt ), Resonance considers the lingering frequencies of memory, embodiment, sound, and ancestral knowledge, what remains, reverberates, and survives across time and geography. Featuring works by Carrie Mae Weems, Frank Bowling, Ming Smith, Christopher Cozier, Olu Oguibe, Hung Liu, Georges Adéagbo, and Deborah Willis, amongst others, the exhibition convenes a powerful intergenerational dialogue across photography, painting, sculpture, installation, sound, and text. Within this wider curatorial framework, the practices of Aïda Muluneh and Maggie Otieno unfold as distinct yet interconnected meditations on visibility, material memory, spirituality, and transformation. Through image, surface, and gesture, both artists engage resonance not simply as metaphor, but as a mode of relation: between body and history, silence and testimony, Africa and its diasporic imaginaries. Set within the intimate architecture of a Venetian palazzetto, Resonance becomes a space of attunement and collective reflection — a chorus of artistic voices responding to the urgencies of the present while imagining forms of repair, communion, and continuity. Exhibition design by Pure Object Studio (@pureobject.studio ) ——— Photos courtesy of Efie Gallery and Joe Habben (@joe.habben ) #EfiɛGallery #EfieGallery

For this month’s film programme, Efie Gallery and Bootleg Griot are pleased to present a screening and discussion of Lizard (2020), written by Akinola Davies Jr. (@akinoladaviesjr ) and Wale Davies (@kingxdavies ), and directed by Akinola Davies Jr., taking place this Friday. Set in Lagos, Lizard follows a young girl navigating the fragile terrain between childhood innocence and the unsettling realities of the adult world. Through a series of intimate, quietly disorienting encounters, the film unfolds as a meditation on memory, perception, and the moment when certainty begins to fracture. With a visual language that is both restrained and deeply evocative, Davies crafts a coming-of-age narrative that resists linearity, instead privileging atmosphere, sensation, and the porous boundary between the seen and the felt. In doing so, Lizard offers a nuanced reflection on vulnerability, power, and the subtle violences, both personal and political, that shape one’s becoming. The session will include a post-screening discussion, extending the film’s concerns into a wider dialogue around narrative form, memory, and contemporary African cinema. The screening is free to attend, but spaces are limited. RSVP is strictly required via the form linked in our bio. ——— Screening courtesy of Wale Davies #EfieGallery #EfiɛGallery #BootlegGriot

Efie Gallery is thrilled to announce ‘In Abstracto, In Concreto: On Memory and Presence’. This group exhibition, curated by Brice Arsène Yonkeu (@iambayn ), brings together contemporary practices that expand figuration and abstraction alike, positioning them as critical tools to rethink visibility, memory, and belonging in our present. Exhibiting artists include: Luke Agada (@lukechidiagada ), Tunji Adeniyi-Jones (@tunjiaj ), Ludovic Nkoth (@lnkoth ) and Naïla Opiangah (@bouenguidi ) Opening 16th May, this group exhibition proposes an encounter with works on paper and paintings that move between visibility and erasure, between the surfaces of lived experience and the abstractions of memory. The exhibition is less concerned with depicting bodies in their recognisable form than with asking how the body—sometimes present, sometimes dissolving, sometimes displaced—becomes a vessel for history, inheritance, and imagination. “At the heart of these practices is a shared interrogation of how presence and absence are rendered visible. The works range from those that privilege opacity and dissolution, where forms blur, fragment, or withdraw into residues of memory, to those that stage dreamlike transitions and surrealist landscapes that mirror dislocation and shifting identity. Alongside these gestures of abstraction and withdrawal are practices that insist on the fullness of the body, affirming it as resplendent, grounded, and worthy of care. Rather than presenting a singular mode of figuration or abstraction, the exhibition unfolds as a spectrum of strategies.“ - Brice Arsène Yonkeu ——— Artwork in view: Tunji Adeniyi-Jones. Blue Fragments, 2026. Photo Courtesies: 1. Tunji Adeniyi-Jones and On White Wall 2. Ludovic Nkoth and Fondazione Imago Mundi 3. Naïla Opiangah and Nii Odzema 4. Luke Agada and Robert Chase Heishman #EfiɛGallery #EfieGallery

On view | Déjà vu Presented by Alserkal Avenue (@alserkalavenue ), Déjà vu proposes a reconfiguration of exhibition-making, bringing together a constellation of voices across the UAE’s contemporary gallery landscape to consider how artworks circulate, recur, and accrue meaning over time. In foregrounding a new generation of collectors, the exhibition reflects a broader commitment to cultivating sustained and thoughtful modes of engagement. Within this context, Efie Gallery presents works by Abdoulaye Konaté and Samuel Fosso. Across textile and photography, their practices offer distinct yet resonant meditations on history, identity, and the constructed image, expanding the exhibition’s inquiry into memory and repetition. On view until 8 May 2026 10AM – 10PM ——— Photo courtesy of Alserkal Avenue #EfieGallery #AlserkalAvenue

Efie Gallery is thrilled to announce that María Magdalena Campos-pons is a medalist at the 2026 Art Basel Awards (@artbasel.awards ) in the established artist category. María Magdalena Campos-Pons is internationally celebrated for her evocative, immersive installations that weave together themes of memory, identity, and spirituality. Her presentation at the 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia (@labiennale ) - In Minor Keys by Koyo Kouoh – will run from Saturday 9 May to Sunday 22 November 2026. This year’s cycle of the annual awards program – presented in partnership with @BOSS recognizes a global cohort of artists, innovators, and institutions whose work is leading the most forward-thinking practices shaping art and cultural production today. Celebrations will take place this June in Basel and beyond to celebrate their singular talents. With a career spanning over three decades, Campos-Pons’s work is in the permanent collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art (@whitneymuseum ), the Museum of Modern Art (@themuseumofmodernart ), Victoria and Albert Museum (@vamuseum ), J. Paul Getty Museum (@gettymuseum ), Tate Modern (@tate ), Museum of Fine Arts (@mfaboston ), Institute of Contemporary Art (@icaboston ), Smithsonian American Art Museum (@smithsonian ), Art Institute of Chicago (@artinstitutechi ) and Pérez Art Museum (@pamm ), amongst many others. Most recently, the Obama Foundation (@obamafoundation ) announced Campos-Pons as part of the final group of commissioned artists for the Obama Presidential Center. She will create a mixed-media installation titled Still Holding the Scent of Flowers, which meditates on the White House Rose Garden and the legacy of the Obama administration. ——— Photo courtesy of Efie Gallery and Artist #EfiɛGallery #EfieGallery

Art Dubai Special Edition We are delighted to announce our return to Art Dubai (@artdubai ) on the occasion of the fair’s 20th Anniversary. For this edition Efie Gallery will present a considered dialogue across generations, tracing the evolving visual languages of African and diasporic practices, from early photographic archives to contemporary explorations of material, identity, and memory. Anchored in a spirit of continuity and transformation, the presentation brings together historically significant works and ambitious contemporary positions, foregrounding the fluid exchange between past and present, and between Africa and its global interlocutors. Join us from 14th - 17th May, 2026 Featured Artists: Kelani Abass (@abass.kelani ) J.K. Bruce-Vanderpuije (@deogratiasstudio ) Samuel Fosso (@sam.fosso ) María Magdalena Campos-Pons (@maria_magdalena_campos_pons ) Abdoulaye Konate Aïda Muluneh (@aidamuluneh ) Maggie Otieno (@themaggieotieno ) Yaw Owusu (@_yawowusu ) ——— Artwork in view: Abdoulaye Konaté, Tombouctou - motifs, Textile, 400 cm x 261 cm, 2023 #EfiɛGallery #EfieGallery

María Magdalena Campos-Pons (@maria_magdalena_campos_pons ) , El Anatsui (@elanatsui.art ) and Aïda Muluneh (@aidamuluneh ) now on view at the Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporáneo, Seville (@caac_sevilla ), through 10 January 2027. ‘Améfrica: Diasporic Connections in the Collection of Jorge M. Pérez’ brings together artists from diverse regions of the American and African continents through resonances, shared references, and mutual influences that connect the shores of the Atlantic. The exhibition takes as its starting point the concept formulated by the Afro-Brazilian intellectual Lélia Gonzalez (1935–1994), who articulated race, gender, and class to propose a perspective attentive to the African foundations in the aesthetic and sociocultural formation of the Americas. By naming the Americas as Améfrica, Gonzalez proposed a relational, political, and aesthetic cartography that decentralizes Europe and underscores the profound Afro-centered influence within the cultures of the continent. The exhibition is curated by Hélio Menezes (helio.menezes) and inspired by the conceptual framework developed by Lélia Gonzalez (1935–1994). It is organised by the Jorge M. Pérez Collection and El Espacio 23 (@elespacio23 ). ——— Photos courtesy of Pepe Morón and Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporáneo, Seville #EfiɛGallery #EfieGallery

For this month’s film programme, Efie Gallery and Bootleg Griot are delighted to present a screening of Losing Ground (1982), directed by Kathleen Collins, taking place on Friday, 27th March. This film is a quietly radical work that redefined what Black life could look like on screen. At its centre is Sara, a philosophy professor searching for “ecstasy” beyond the limits of intellect, her journey unfolding through art, desire, and self-discovery as her marriage begins to fracture. Made in the early 1980s, at a time when Black characters were often confined to narrow narratives, Collins offered something rare: a portrait of Black intellectual life, intimacy, and interiority. As one of the first feature films directed by an African American woman, Losing Ground challenged both industry exclusion and representational boundaries, though it remained largely unseen during her lifetime. Now restored and widely celebrated, the film endures as a landmark of independent cinema, an exploration of what it means not only to think, but to feel, to experience, and to become. The screening is free to attend, but spaces are limited. RSVP is strictly required via the form linked in our bio. ——— Screening courtesy of Kino Lorber (@kinolorber ) #EfieGallery #EfiɛGallery #BootlegGriot

Inside the studio with Yaw Owusu (@_yawowusu ) “Yaw Owusu’s installations create beauty and value from objects otherwise considered worthless. Long a signature component of the artist’s work, is his incorporation of numerous pieces of loose change known as “pesewa” coins for which he had to negotiate with the Central Bank of Ghana, still the only bank in the country to distribute the pesewa. A bureaucratic process that the artist also refers to through his creative practice. ‘I began studying the penny, the significance of its copper and relationship to mining. I thought again about the transformation of material into value… I am now using both steel and copper as well to look at the meaning behind these simple materials and how they are extracted to transform the currency that they create as well as ideas surrounding labor used to create them… What does it mean to transform these objects into works of art and how in doing so do they become new currencies to perpetuate new dialogues to explore new ways of looking at histories?’ - Yaw Owusu in conversation with Rebecca Anne Proctor (@rebeccaanneproctor ) for the essay “Glimmers of Transformation” ——— Photos courtesy of Eszter Enczmann and the artist Video courtesy of Meta (Facebook) Open Arts and the artist #EfiɛGallery #EfieGallery