“Art Fairs Will Increasingly Need to Think Beyond Being Just Commercial Platforms”: Touria El Glaoui on 1-54’s Growth
By Keshav AnandWhen Touria El Glaoui founded 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair in 2013, she admits she had “big hopes” for the venture, but even she could not have imagined the scale of what it has become. Now in its 13th London edition, the fair returns to Somerset House this October with more than 50 international exhibitors, over 100 artists, and an expanded programme that underscores its place as the leading platform dedicated to contemporary African and diasporic art.
“What has surprised me most is the incredible community that has grown around the fair,” El Glaoui reflects. “Not only artists and galleries, but also curators, institutions, and collectors who return year after year. The conversations and connections that have come out of the fair have gone far beyond what I initially envisioned.”
New galleries from Dakar, Lagos, and Cairo will make their 1-54 debut this month, reflecting the fair’s ongoing expansion. El Glaoui sees this surge as part of a broader shift: “London is a city with a long-standing history of diasporic communities and a global art hub that continues to attract international audiences. I think many of these galleries see 1-54 as a unique platform that not only gives visibility to their artists but also situates them within broader conversations on African and diasporic art. The fact that so many are joining us for the first time this year is a sign of the growing confidence and vibrancy of these art scenes.”
That expansive scope is central to El Glaoui’s vision. With more than 100 artists from over 35 countries, the fair’s presentations span painting, sculpture, photography, video, performance, and textile works. While she resists spotlighting individuals, she emphasises the significance of diversity: “It’s always difficult for me to single out individual artists, as one of the great strengths of the fair is precisely the diversity of practices and perspectives on view. I’m particularly excited about this breadth of representation, which really reflects the global reach and richness of contemporary African and diasporic art today.”
Earlier this year in New York, 1-54 presented a Curated Spotlight on the Caribbean, exploring dialogues between the Caribbean and African diaspora. El Glaoui stresses the ongoing importance of these conversations. “The connections between the Caribbean and Africa are profound,” she explains. “We are finding ways of making visible a dialogue that has always existed but is still underexplored within the global art ecosystem. By creating space for Caribbean voices within 1-54, we hope to encourage audiences to think more expansively about what the African diaspora encompasses, and to highlight the ways in which histories of movement, exchange, and resilience continue to shape contemporary practices.”
Such dialogues play out not only in the gallery booths but also in the Special Projects and Forum programme. From Mónica de Miranda’s Earthworks installation transforming Somerset House’s courtyard into a participatory botanical landscape, to Everyday Lusaka Gallery’s Inherited Counter-Archive, the projects engage visitors in conversations that go beyond commerce. For El Glaoui, this is essential to the fair’s future. “I believe art fairs will increasingly need to think beyond being just commercial platforms. They will have to become spaces where knowledge is produced and shared, where different communities can gather and connect. With 1-54, the Forum programme has always been integral for this reason, to ensure that discourse, learning, and critical reflection are at the heart of what we do.”
This year’s Forum, curated by RAW Material Company, centres on decoloniality and cultural exchange, further cementing 1-54 as a meeting point for ideas. The choice of host cities has always been strategic. London, Marrakech, and New York each provide distinct cultural ecosystems and diasporic communities, extending the fair’s reach across continents. When asked where she would host the fair without limitations, El Glaoui dreams of moving even closer to its roots: “If I could host the fair anywhere, without constraints, I would love to see 1-54 travel across different countries on the African continent, as well as expand into new destinations in Asia.”
Back at Somerset House, the 13th edition carries all the ambition of its predecessors while embracing new voices and connections. Alongside the fair, the venue will host the first major solo exhibition of Black British photographer Jennie Baptiste, tracing three decades of work documenting music, fashion, and youth culture. As El Glaoui reflects on her journey, one constant remains: the fair’s ability to build bridges. Its future, as she envisions, will continue to be shaped not just by the art on view, but by the conversations, encounters, and communities it brings into being.
1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair returns to Somerset House, London, from 16–19 October 2025.
Feature image: Ugonna Hosten, The Departure, 2025. Courtesy of the Artist and Ed Cross