ART X Lagos 2026 and the Pleasures of Ladi Kwali

ART X Lagos marks its second decade with “A New Chapter, A New Decade”, celebrating African heritage and contemporary art. Among this year’s highlights is a tribute to the late Nigerian potter, Ladi Kwali. Yinka Olatunbosun reports

Beginning with an exclusive Collectors’ Preview, the long-anticipated Art X Lagos united global curators, international patrons, and prominent African art collectors for a private viewing on Thursday November 5 ahead of its public run.

     Centering on the overarching theme “A New Chapter, A New Decade”, this year’s preview highlighted the fair’s decade-long legacy of positioning contemporary African art on the global stage. Attendees were offered an intimate look at compelling works presented by leading galleries across Africa and its diaspora, alongside major curated exhibitions celebrating foundational and modern artists. Notable displays ranged from high-concept installations to intimate retrospective showcases, drawing strong interest from private buyers and institutional reps eager to secure primary-market pieces.

The founder, Art X Lagos, Tokini Peterside-Schwebig engaged guests in conversation, reflecting on the ecosystem’s rapid growth and the critical role collectors play in elevating regional practices. The evening seamlessly bridged commercial visual arts with cultural dialogue, offering curated walkthroughs before setting the tone for the fair’s public weekend of panels, cinema, and live performances.

While receiving international visitors, Peterside-Schwebig welcomed attendees, underscoring how cross-border dialogues and institutional engagements—such as those with Tate—continue to expand global exposure for African artistic practices. The evening fostered high-level commercial transactions alongside critical exchange, setting an ambitious tone for the multi-day program of exhibitions, panels, and live performances.  

So far, Art X Lagos has been a dialogue between heritage and contemporary reinvention, highlighted by the centrepiece exhibition titled ‘Ladi Kwali: Beyond the Vessel.’ Curated by Dr. Jareh Das, the special showcase honours the pioneering Nigerian potter alongside generations of women ceramicists who expanded the medium.  

Ladi Kwali: Beyond the Vessel showcase                is an assemblage of a range of ceramics and archival materials relating to Ladi Dosei Kwali (1925–1984).  Loaned from the collection of the National Museum, Onikan, Lagos, and from private lenders, the story of Ladi Kwali is being retold in a most dignifying way: to restore visibility to matrilineal legacy. It also marks a seminal shift for African contemporary art culture as it reframes indigenous craftsmanship, repositioning historical mastery at the centre of modern practice.

Born in the village of Kwali in northern Nigeria, she learnt pottery from her aunt, mastering the hand-building and coiling techniques central to Gbari matrilineal traditions. She became Nigeria’s most internationally recognised potter of the period, bringing the knowledge of Gbari pottery traditions to a new network of production, exhibition and circulation.

This exhibition, sponsored by Zenith Bank, returns attention to the objects and networks of Gbari women’s pottery traditions from which they emerged. Alongside ceramics by Kwali are works by two women potters from the community who worked alongside and after Kwali, including Kande Ushafa and Asibi Ido, and traditional pottery made by Gbari, Nupe and Bida potters.

For decades, Western art canons categorised African ceramics and hand-built pottery as “indigenous craft” or utilitarian trade rather than fine art. Centering Ladi Kwali at West Africa’s premier international art fair dismantles that hierarchy. It asserts that her hand-coiled, sgraffito-etched stoneware—which hybridized traditional Gbari motifs with studio glaze techniques—stands as foundational modernism.  

While Kwali’s face is immortalised on the N20 note and her work reached global audiences in the mid-20th century, her story has often been contextualized through her British supervisor, Michael Cardew. Beyond the Vessel re-anchors the narrative around her agency and the ecosystem of Northern Nigerian women potters who worked alongside and after her—artists like Kande Ushafa and Asibi Ido. It honours clay as a site of collective female knowledge passed down through generations.  

Beyond clay, the fair transforms Victoria Island into a dynamic multidisciplinary space. Its expanded roster features contemporary gallery presentations, curated installations, the vibrant sonic and visual fusion of ART X Live!, insightful panels at ART X Talks, and moving image showcases via ART X Cinema. 

Also, this year’s edition of Art Across Borders asks where value lies beyond what is traditionally validated by the art market. The 2026 cohort comprises five artists from across the continent whose studios also function as workshops, incubators, schools and residencies. This year’s edition features Kaloki Nyamai (Kenya); Kamene Cultural Centre, Georgina Maxim (Zimbabwe) – Village Unhu; Ghizlane Sahli (Morocco) – work with female artisans; Kiluanji Kia Henda (Angola) – KinoYetu and Fuckin’ Globo; Victor Ehikhamenor (Nigeria) – Angels & Muse and Black Muse Festival.

The title is taken from Julie Mehretu’s painting, Walkers with the Dawn and Morning, which in 2023 set a milestone record at auction for any African artist. Here, “Walkers with the Dawn” represents artists who see into new horizons and think boldly about who they can invite to walk alongside them. 

ART X Cinema will shift focus to one of the best Northern Nigerian stories, Mothers of Chibok. Presented alongside a conversation with its director, Emmy-winning filmmaker Joel ‘Kachi Benson, the movie screening  represents a form of artivism in which creative expression, moral clarity and community care meet. 

All eyes fixed on the screen for the screening of Ed Keazor’s documentary, ‘Who Holds the Camera? 100 Years of Nigerian Cinema.’ The project grappled with a poignant milestone: a century since Palaver (1926), the first feature film shot in Nigeria through an imperious colonial gaze. Through a rich tapestry of archived footage and historical interviews, Keazor traced cinema’s evolution from those early restricted portrayals to the explosive, self-determined era of Nollywood. Frame by frame, the documentary interrogated who controlled the lens, capturing how Nigerian storytellers reclaimed their narrative rights to film their own lives and dreams.  

During an opening tour, Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu commended the fair’s impact on cultural tourism and the state’s creative economy.

“Lagos remains the indisputable creative heartbeat of Africa,” Governor Sanwo-Olu stated while engaging with gallery directors and artists. “Events like ART X Lagos not only elevate our rich artistic heritage onto the global stage, but they also drive real economic growth, inspire our youth, and showcase the immense talent embedded within our state.”

Since its founding in 2016, the fair has expanded the continent’s cultural ecosystem by providing direct international exposure for African artists.

Tokini Peterside-Schwebig, Founder and CEO of ART X Lagos, emphasized that the platform’s vision enters a transformative new era as it steps into its second decade.

“As we launch into our second decade, we are thinking deeply about what it means to move forward while remaining connected to our rich histories and knowledge,” said Peterside-Schwebig. “When vision meets commitment, creativity becomes a powerful force that reshapes how the world sees us. Our hope is that visitors leave with a renewed sense of possibility for African art.”

Running through November 8, the multi-day fair continues to draw international patrons, collectors, and curators to Nigeria’s commercial capital.