5 Artists You Should Know About this Month
1. Jack Kabangu
Image © Jack Kabangu
First up, we have chosen Congolese artist Jack Kabangu, now living and working from his studio in Copenhagen. A self-taught artist, Kabangu expertly blends his African roots with Danish influences to create his signature style, playing with concepts such as light vs. dark and the beautiful vs. the undesirable.
2.Tope Ajayi
Image: Strength in Numbers © Tope Ajayi
Nigerian artist Tope Ajayi has also caught our eye this month. Refusing to be bound by any labels, Ajayi describes himself as a 'multi-faceted artist', whose work reflects the themes of Afro-centrism, Afro-futurism and Afro-surrealism. Tope enjoys experimenting with different artistic mediums to create his art, often using acrylic paints, digital collaging and photography.
3. Khalid Abdel Rahman
Image: Untitled 1, 2020 © Khalid Abdel Rahman
Next, we've chosen Sudanese artist, Khalid Abdel Rahman, whose work explores themes of displacement and forced migration. Characterised by scenes of architectural structures and Sudanese metropolitan landscapes, his acrylic paintings and monotypes depict the impending dissertation of the towns and cities, as its citizens leave in search for a better life.
4.Melissa Asante-Crook
Image: Monday Blue © Melissa Asante-Crook
Melissa is a digital collage artist based in the UK and is the owner of the Etsy store Nook & Crook. Her work often littered with flowers symbolic of beauty and light, seeks to remind us of the hope that we can still have in spite of the darkness that can sometimes surround us.
5. Blessing Atas
Our final pick for the month is Blessing Atas, a Nigerian Phone Photographer and visual artist based in Abuja. Her latest photography project Egrets was just selected for the Voice NFT residency. The collection was inspired by her own "real life egrets" and depicts the individual's internal struggles against the restraints that we impose upon ourselves, and the journey to finding true freedom.