1. Innovative African Artists: Using Technology as a Canvas for Creative Expression
The article is discussing how the internet of things (IoT), big data, artificial intelligence, and blockchain are impacting the artistic practice of artists around the world, including in Africa. A new generation of African artists are using digital technology to create and share their art, which often explores themes related to social and political issues, cultural memories, and the diversity of experiences within Africa and among its diaspora. The article highlights 10 African artists who are at the forefront of this movement and are creating notable immersive digital art experiences.
2. 10 African Artists Leading the Way
Ahmed Partey
The artist Partey is known for creating digital art that is influenced by West African symbols such as ornaments, masks, figures, and patterns. Partey is based in Ghana and his art seeks to reclaim the power of African traditional symbolism in a contemporary context, often incorporating themes of Afro-Ancestral Spiritualism. Partey's work has been exhibited at the Chale Wote Street Art Festival in Accra, Ghana.
Linda Dounia
Linda Dounia is a digital artist, designer, and curator based in Dakar who creates art that challenges power structures. Dounia uses analog image-making tools and artificial intelligence (AI) models that have learned her acrylic painting style to create her animated works. She feeds her own paintings into the models, which then generate outputs that she curates and combines using animation techniques to create a story. Dounia's work has been exhibited at Art Dubai and Art Basel Miami Beach, where she collaborated with the blockchain company Tezos.
Freddie Jacob
Freddie Jacob is a Nigerian digital artist who uses her art to explore themes related to her intersectional identity, including female identity, allyship, familial love, healing, and female hair politics. Jacob is a queer artist who has minted her artworks as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and released her first NFT collection on Opensea, a peer-to-peer marketplace for crypto collectables. The collection, titled "Eguono," which means "love" in Jacob's native Urhobo language, features works that depict people with Snapchat filters on them.
Fanuel Leul
Leul is an Ethiopian artist whose digital artworks combine traditional African elements like face painting, head crowns, cloth patterns, beads, masks, drums, and calabashes with futuristic technologies to create Afrofuturistic works that center on joy and peace. Leul's aim is to challenge stereotypes about Africa and to inspire other African artists to take control of their own narratives. He received a B.F.A. from the Alle School of Fine Arts & Industrial Design in Addis Ababa, but considers himself a self-taught artist. In his works, Leul's strong understanding of color theory and design principles is evident. One of his artworks, "Beautiful Heirloms," explores the importance of preserving traditional storytelling as a way to pass down shared values and collective experiences to future generations.
Yatreda
Yatreda is an Ethiopian artist collective co-founded by Kiya Tadele that explores the intersection of art and digital technology. The collective aims to celebrate and archive Ethiopian history on the blockchain through their non-fungible token (NFT) portfolio. Their first NFT project, "Kingdoms of Ethiopia," raised awareness about traditional Ethiopian culture through motion portraits that captured the stories of kings, warriors, and kingdoms. Their most recent NFT project, "Strong Hair," is a collection of 100 motion portraits that celebrate the diversity of traditional African hairstyles, including Afros, shaved patterns, and unique braids that are disappearing. Yatreda uses their crypto art as a way to help others and themselves rediscover their identity and pride.
Abdulrahman Adesola Yusuf
Adulrahman Adesola Yusuf, also known as Arclight.jpg, is a digital artist from Lagos whose work is centered on the belief that empathy begins with self-love. His art explores themes of self-awareness, growth, consciousness, and subconscious human impulses, and is characterized by bold colors and a blend of digital illustration and photography. Yusuf's works have been influenced by various art movements, including Baroque, Rococo, Minimalism, and Pop. Recently, he participated in the group show "Beauty and the Beholder" at the AG18 gallery in Vienna, which was organized by the African Artists' Foundation.
Anthony Azekwoh
Anthony Azekwoh is a self-taught artist based in Nigeria who uses Photoshop to create digital art that blends elements of ancient history with the present. Azekwoh is known for his innovative album covers for African artists such as Adekunle Gold and Masego, and for his NFT artwork "The Red Man," which features a subject dressed in red with a red hat, cigarette smoke drifting upward over a glowing gold necklace. Azekwoh experienced a rapid rise in popularity following the sale of "The Red Man" and winning the Awele Trust Prize in 2017.
Fhatuwani Mukheli
Fhatuwani Mukheli is a Johannesburg-based artist who uses photography, painting, and film to change the narrative about Black representation in South Africa. Mukheli's process involves painting on canvas and then minting the artwork as digital assets for viewing and exchange in the Metaverse. He is one of many artists who have created NFTs of their physical works and has said that people can buy land and properties in the virtual world and display art on their walls. Mukheli is also the co-founder and director of I See a Different You, a collective of Soweto-born artists who provide creative solutions for brands.
Osinachi
Nigeria-based NFT creator Osinachi is a well-known tech artist who uses Microsoft Word to create colorful figurative portraits that explore themes such as masculinity, homophobia, gender roles, and more. Osinachi joined the crypto scene in 2017 and in 2018, became the first Nigerian artist to showcase his work at the Ethereal Summit New York, an annual retreat centered on Ethereum, blockchain, and decentralization. In 2020, Osinachi had his debut solo show, "Existence as Protest," at Kate Vasse Galerie in Zurich. The show featured works themed around questions about people and their relationship to their surroundings, presented through colorful geometric abstractions. Osinachi's work has gained international recognition, selling at Christie's and fairs such as Art Basel and 1-54, and is available for sale on NFT platforms including SuperRare, OpenSea, and Makersplace.
Joe Baraka
Joe Baraka, also known as Joe Impressions, is a digital artist based in Kenya who creates art using Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop. His work is characterized by sharp lines, shapes, and colors, and he uses it to tell various stories. Recently, Baraka created a Doodle for Google depicting Okoth Okombo, who helped bring sign language to Kenya and has researched Nilotic linguistics. The Doodle appeared on Google's homepage for Kenyan users last year.