Southern Guild Makes Bold Debut at Frieze New York with Groundbreaking African Art

Championing the continent’s art, Southern Guild will make its debut at Frieze New York later this month with a group presentation of sculpture, painting, tapestries and photographic work.

Running from 7 to 11 May, in Manhattan, the show will include prominent African artists, including Kamyar Bineshtarigh, Alex Hedison, Bonolo Kavula, Roméo Mivekannin, Zanele Muholi, Zizipho Poswa and Dominique Zinkpè, whose work who deploy representation as an act of agency, speaking to the historical exclusion and pictorial conventions of the Western canon. Their works respond to the need for contemporary visibility, documentation, preservation of cultural heritage and memorialisation within today’s fractured socio-political climate.

Commenting on Southern Guild’s participation in the show, Trevyn McGowan, co-founder of Southern Guild, says: “We are committed to spotlighting the practices of our artists and ensuring deeper representation of African perspectives in global art contexts. Being at Frieze New York, one of the most important art fairs in the world is a major affirmation of their work’s unique relevance.”

Highlights of the show will include new lightbox works by Zanele Muholi featuring photographs from two series, Being (T)here, Amsterdam (2009) and Somnyama Ngonyama (Hail the Dark Lioness) (2014- ongoing). As well as two new bronze and ceramic sculptures from Zizipho Poswa’s ongoing Magodi series, which celebrates the elaborate art of African hair styling, passed down through generations of women across the continent and diaspora. While Kamyar Bineshtarigh will showcase abstract paintings from a new series and Dominique Zinkpè a new bronze sculpture that addresses the dualism and interconnection between the self and society.

Bonolo Kavula will show two wall hangings made of tiny discs of fabric connected by thread. Through the pieces, Kavula hones in on a singular, culturally resonant material: traditional shweshwe cloth, inspired by a dress of her mother’s that is now a family heirloom. Stitched together at mathematically precise intervals, her near-translucent fabric grids are embedded with collective histories of culture and ancestry.

Frieze New York will run from 7 to 11 May at The Shed, 545 West 30th Street, Manhattan, New York, USA.