Artists discovered at the 1-54 Marrakech. One continent, 54 African countries, dozens of galleries.

A sunny February and Marrakech, pulsating with the rhythm of contemporary art, can only mean one thing –the 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair. For the seventh time, collectors, curators, and artists gathered in the Red City, ready for intense days of meetings, talks, and discoveries under the Moroccan sun.

One continent, 54 countries, and dozens of galleries – the 1-54 Fair is not only an art fair; it is also a space for exploring the latest trends and diagnosing the condition of Africa’s contemporary art scene. Just like every year, the legendary luxury La Mamounia Hotel and the modern, multidisciplinary Dada Space became the event’s headquarters between January 30 and February 2, 2025. 

While the traditional fair exhibition model invariably attracts collectors – of which there is no shortage in Morocco – to Marrakech, the most alluring things often happen outside the main exhibition spaces. Galleries, art institutions, and museums across the city contribute to the Fair’s programme, offering meticulously curated exhibitions that transcend the standard fair format. The strength of local institutions is their ability to break the monotony of commercial display, offering visitors experiences of the highest curatorial and production standards. Both private, commercial galleries and a wide range of independent ones operating throughout the year demonstrate that the Moroccan contemporary art scene is dynamic and has much to offer – not only on a regional level but also globally. 

The 1-54 Fair in Marrakech is the perfect opportunity to take a look at the richness of the African art scene and its growing importance on the world art map. To bring our readers closer to this vibrant event, we have compiled a summary of the most interesting discoveries of this edition.

The article was prepared exclusively for Contemporary Lynx, the official media partner of the 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair.

Mous Lamrabat

Mous Lamrabat returns home – and does so with a bang. Born in Morocco in 1983, as a child, he emigrated with his parents to Belgium, where he grew up and studied at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Ghent. His Homesick exhibition, presented by the Loft Art Gallery, is a visual fever of nostalgia – a fusion of longing, pop culture subversion, and the evolving Moroccan identity of a new generation. 

Lamrabat’s photographs are a mesmerising mix of high-end fashion glitz and traditional Moroccan artefacts. The artist operates in a language full of symbols, exploring the tension between tradition and Western modernity. Every image here surveys identity, each of the arranged scenes breaks the rules of conformity much like the chanting of a muezzin blends with the throbbing bass of electronic club music. As such, Homesick is not only a visual spectacle but also an emotional journey.

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Amina Agueznay 

Amina Agueznay doesn’t just create – she builds worlds. Raised in Casablanca, she moved to the USA to study architecture, but instead of concrete and glass, she chose something more organic – textiles, space, and craftsmanship. Her artistic practice is an ongoing process of reimagining reality, piece by piece, akin to an archaeologist of the future weaving new narratives rather than unearthing the past. 

In her works, she uses textiles, fibres, and wires – materials that acquire an almost biological structure in her hands. Her compositions evoke living organisms, formed from thousands of weaves, connections, and passages. It is a topography of organic matter in which nature, craftsmanship, and architectural approach to space intertwine. Although Agueznay is represented by the Loft Art Gallery, her work could also be seen at Dar Izza and MACAAL. Each of these venues showed a different angle of her work – from subtle, almost intimate compositions to monumental installations that seem to merge into the surrounding space, living their own rhythm. 

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Mahi Binebine 

Mahi Binebine originally studied mathematics for eight years but eventually chose art – a space where emotions rule instead of logic. His paintings and sculptures represent human silhouettes in their essence, often seen from a profile – these figures lose the individual features yet they carry a sense of longing, suffering and interior struggle. A human being in his works is a façade behind which anxieties, mysteries and traumas hide. His works are simultaneously subtle and uncompromising, brilliant and unequivocally touching. While a selection of Binebine’s work was on display in La Mamounia, his artistic scope was revealed to a full extent in the monumental Élévations Silencieuses exhibition organised by Galerie 208 at the luxurious Mandarin Oriental Hotel. The show included both his sculptures and large-scale paintings, highlighting the power of his artistic vision. 

Binebine was set to co-curate Morocco’s historic debut at the Venice Biennale in 2023, but the project never came to fruition. His exhibition in Marrakech, produced in the extraordinary space of the Mandarin Oriental, seems to be a commentary on this situation: above all, it provides a unique opportunity to discover the work of one of Morocco’s most moving artists. 

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Amina Yahia 

Amina Yahia is a young talent on the Egyptian art scene. In her paintings, she intertwines local identity with postcolonial experience, where the female body becomes a space for confronting social norms and the individual longing for freedom. Her paintings are filled with subtle yet significant tensions. In one artwork, a woman stares up to the sky, gazing at birds in passing – a gesture suggesting a dream of escape, of something beyond the horizon of everyday life. In another piece, men sit in an army canteen, their eyes scanning the space, establishing an atmosphere of control and unspoken hierarchy. There is no literal aggression, though there is a palpable tension – lined up with the social entanglement of the female figure in the system of power. 

Yahia’s characters are at the same time playful and brutally honest, balancing the banal and the mystical. The artist is represented by Hunna Art Gallery, which supports the work of a new generation of women redefining the contemporary Middle Eastern art discourse. 

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Sara Benabdallah

Represented by Paris-based Nil Gallery, Sara Benabdallah is one of the most intriguing names of the young generation of Moroccan artists. Her work is distinguished by a subtle but perceptive fusion of tradition and modernity, as well as her ability to handle symbolism in a way that is both visually appealing and intellectually provocative. 

Benabdallah’s use of photography balances between a fascination with ancestral culture and a critique of social constraints, particularly those on women. She creates surreal compositions in which female figures are simultaneously trapped and exposed, thus establishing a game with the viewer – a tension between aesthetics and the message. Her work is a subtle but powerful meditation on the Moroccan social and cultural realities. Combining delicacy of form with depth of content, Benabdallah proves that art can be poetic and political. 

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Mohamed Arejdal

Mohamed Arejdal takes Moroccan craft and deconstructs it on his own terms, creating forms that are both familiar and alien. His hanging structures of ceramics, leather or textiles resemble nets, an unknown alphabet – chaotic yet subliminally arranged as if someone is trying to capture something ephemeral: memory, identity, story. 

His art is a dialogue with tradition, though without nostalgia – not a sentimental reconstruction, but an attempt to stretch it, testing it against the contemporary to see what remains. And what does remain is something vivid, pulsating, disturbing – structures that seem on the verge of disintegration yet cling to their own internal rhythm. 

Till March 29, 2025, his work can be seen at the Ifergan exhibition at the Comptoir des Mines Gallery, where his experiments with form and material take on a new dimension. 

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Amoako Boafo 

Amoako Boafo transforms traditional portrait by combining African heritage with expressive, vibrant painting. His distinctive textural works are a celebration of black identity and individuality, in which each figure oozes strength and confidence. His unique technique—thickly applied paint, verging on sculptural modelling—transforms skin in his paintings into more than just a hue. It’s texture, history, individuality – each layer of paint adds depth and emotion, creating both physical and spiritual portraits. The protagonists of his works do not ask for attention – they seize it. They look at the viewer with nonchalance and confidence, dominating the space with their presence. 

Represented by Gallery 1957, Boafo recently had one of his works acquired by the Tate Collection, reaffirming his position as one of the most exciting contemporary painters. 

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Eric van Hove

Eric Van Hove takes symbols of industrial power – engines, mechanisms, vehicles – and reconstructs them using traditional craft techniques, turning cold technology into unique works of art. An engine made of wood and copper? Van Hove plays with the boundaries between technology and art, craft and mass production. Covered in ornaments, the machines lose their utilitarian function but gain a new value as they become manifestos on labour, craftsmanship, and the decolonisation of design. 

His work is a tribute to the craft – sometimes marginalised in a world of mass production, yet a subtle commentary on global economic structures and the relationship between centre and periphery. Van Hove’s exhibition could be seen at Malhoun, where the intersection of tradition and modernity takes on an even deeper meaning. 

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Lara Baladi 

Lara Baladi exposes the mechanisms of propaganda, manipulation, and cultural colonisation, juxtaposing symbols of heritage, revolution, and power into disturbing, multi-layered compositions. As an archivist, she not only documents but also decodes narratives, showing how political systems influence our perception of the world. Her works look like they have been extracted from the archives. But instead of nostalgia, they evoke anxiety. A smiling child next to tanks, Mickey Mouse in the form of a gas mask, revolutionary slogans stylised on propaganda posters – all reveal how pop culture and politics are intertwined in creating the illusion of reality. 

Baladi’s art balances between memory and brutal reality, forcing the viewer to rethink who really controls the narratives that surround us. This is the art that under the guise of familiar images asks uncomfortable questions about power, memory, and the future. Revolution can be hope or just another fiction, and pop culture – an instrument of domination. It is these tensions that make her work so timely and perceptive. At the 1-54 Fair, her work was also presented by Malhoun, an institution highlighting the importance of Baladi’s voice in critical discussion on the contemporary world.

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Seven Contours, One Collection 

Also premiering at the fair was the exhibition Seven Contours, One Collection – a modern archive of contemporary African art, comprising 150 works that together form a vibrant map of the continent. Ranging from painting, sculpture, textiles, photography, and installation – from big names like Hassan Hajjaj to artists who are just entering the scene but already have a lot to say. 

The exhibition delves into themes of decolonisation, globalisation, memory, and the future. Rather than imposing interpretations, it fosters a space for reflection and dialogue. Each work speaks its own language, weaving a polyphonic and dynamic portrait of contemporary Africa. Franck Houndegla’s set design avoids predetermined paths by placing the viewer at the heart of this intricate narrative instead. Meanwhile, curators Morad Montazami and Madeleine de Colnet of Zamân Books & Curating have shaped the exhibition to encourage personal discoveries and reflections.

Seven Contours, One Collection was shown at MACAAL which doesn’t want to be another “white cube” with an African label. It’s a vibrant space for thinking and confrontation, where art is not a decoration but a tool for changing perspectives. To truly understand Africa’s contemporary art scene, this is the place to be.