Salon Zürcher is the ground hog of any art fair week in New York.

Kicking off Frieze Week is the second iteration of Salon Zürcher Africa gathering five galleries showcasing art from Africa from Addis Ababa, Nairobi, New York and Paris.

PARTICIPATING GALLERIES

ADDIS FINE ART, Addis Abada, Ethiopia
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Abiy Solomon (b.1983), is a photographer and one of the most prominent advertising creative
directors in Addis Ababa. In his photography series, Primordial Modernity: The Raw Spirit of
Lalibela, he offers a meditation on spirituality and the profound interiority of faith, as he photographs monks in Lalibela exiting and entering the hushed, dark spaces within the ancient rock-hewn churches. Offset by the bright sunlight that pours in through the open windows and doorways, the images are imbued with a reverent feeling: a contemplation of light and darkness, as well as the inner and outer manifestations of religiosity. Solomon holds a degree in Animation and Visual Effects from Maac University in India (2008). He is the founder and Creative Director at Orangeswitch, an advertising agency, and Partner at Africology Media.

Girma Berta is an award winning young artist based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Born in 1990, Berta is a self-taught photographer whose work fuses street photography with fine art.
In Berta’s Moving Shadows series, solitary figures are juxtaposed against vibrant backgrounds, creating truly unique artworks which exemplify the contrasting colours and personalities on the streets of his home town. Berta’s use of digital media, to produce and present his artworks, is in itself a commentary on the digital revolution underway across Africa. He represents the vibrancy of the millennial African.
Berta describes the motivation behind his work as a wish to capture “the beautiful, the ugly and all that is in between”. His images delve deep into the soul of the city, offering his remarkable interpretation.
Berta’s work has been featured in publications such as The Guardian, Okay Africa, Design Indaba, The Huffington Post, Instagram, NPR and Art Africa Magazine. He was selected to participate in the New York Times Portfolio Review 2017, and shortlisted as a finalist for the CAP Prize 2017.
His works have been exhibited at La Gacilly Photo Festival (2017), Nataal / Red Hook Labs NY (2017), Cape Town Art Fair (2017), PhotoVille NY (2016, 2015), Look Festival (2016), 1:54 Contemporary Art Fair London (2016), Also Known as Africa Art Fair Paris (2016) and Bamako Photo Fest (2015).
Berta is the recipient of the Getty Images Instagram Award 2016.

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ANNA REVERDY, Paris, France
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Renowned in South Africa for his portraits, Nelson Makamo, a young artist from the contemporary art scene, opens a real discussion through his artworks. He exposes us to a new vision, by a journey through out his memories, his daily life and his desires. His pictorial work deals with the idea of memory, his personal memory, linked to his own experience and the idea of movements he observes in his life, both of which create an unprecedented environment that he allows us to discover. Also influenced by the individual and collective history of the characters that nourish his inspiration, he integrates a set of identities into his work. Nelson Makamo was born in Limpopo province in South Africa in 1982, he lives and works in Johannesburg. In 2003 he moved to Johannesburg to join the Artist Proof Studio, where he studied for three years and received in 2005 a scholarship from Johnson and Johnson to deepen his work and research. Nelson has exhibited in group and individual exhibitions in South Africa (Eve- rard Read Johannesburg and Cape Town, 2014), London (1:54, CIRCA stand, 2015), Reunion Island (Biennale Arts Actuels, (Nikki Diana Marquardt, 2010) in the Netherlands (African Studies Center, 2009), in Amsterdam (Gallery 23, 2009), in Scotland (UTS Gallery, 2009) and participated in several auctions in South Africa, notably by Stephen Wetltz and Co. His collective exhibition, Ten Years of Printmaking, in 2006 at David Krut Print Studio allowed him to exhibit alongside renowned artists such as David Koloane, Deborah Bell, Col- bert Mashile and William Kentridge. In 2017, following his Dipôlelo exhibition, he participate in DDESSIN17 represented by Anna Reverdy. After his residency at the Blachère Foundation he will participate in the 2017 summer exhibition.

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ARTLABAFRICA, Nairobi, Kenya
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Born in Kisumu, Kenya in 1987, Onyis Martin is a young painter and mixed media artist living and working in Nairobi whose practice is rapidly gaining national and international recognition.
Deeply connected to contemporary urban practice, Martin’s paintings, sculptures and works on paper explore, portray and reflect on current issues affecting not only the African continent but the world as a whole. Delving into global concerns such as human trafficking, migration, political and institutional corruption, repressive environments and displacement, Martin’s works also explore issues of freedom, communication, rapidly evolving technological information and consumerism.
Martin’s approach to and investigation of the themes central to his practice is a complex and articulated process, often using his private experience as a departure point and expressing personal frustration and uneasiness. Interweaving individual with collective experiences of human displacement and migration, works such as Prisoners of Hope – black and white masks scattered in and around the wreck of a ship (2016) – question our understanding and engagement with human trafficking and its catastrophic consequences and reflect on the often intimate, personal reasons why people migrate.

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PARTNER IN ART, New York
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Simon Binna is born in 1966 in Douala, Cameroon, Simon Binna now lives and works in Douala, after 15 years in France. Recent exhibitions (selection) : Kibri Festiv’Art, international contemporary art fair, Kribi, Cameroon (2016) ; Présences, Off Dakar Biennale, Dakar, Senegal (2016) ; Hundrer days, Z Space, San Francisco, United States (2014)

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(S)ITOR / SITOR SENGHOR, Paris, France
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Oumar Ly was born in 1943 in Podor, Senegal, where he resided and worked. Nothing indicated a career in photography for this son of a shopkeeper and holy healer. He discovered photography through a chance meeting with a French serviceman. Young Ly quickly acquired his first camera, a Kodak Brownie Flash. In 1963, he opened Thioffy Studio in the market sector of Podor, then a prosperous little commercial town, near the Mauritanian border. He benefited from his country’s recent independence working with the government as new identity cards were issued with each a portrait photograph. Gaining popularity through his own portrait sessions, his small world populated with faces of children and adults in surrounding villages will forever be remembered beyond borders.His archives are an undeniable patrimonial treasure trove of daily life in Senegal.

Malick Sidibe was born in a Peul family in Soloba, a small village of Mali. He was noticed for his talent as a draftsman and was admitted to the School of Sudanese Craftsmen in Bamako from which he graduated in I955. He decorated the “Photo Service” store of Gerard Guillat, also known as “Gege la Pellicule”, who offered him a job as his apprentice. That’s how he got started in photography in 1956. Two years later, he opened the “Studio Malick” in the centre of Bamako in Bagadadji, on 30th Street, Corner I9. The wildness of the 1950’s and the upcoming of Independence gave birth to a new generation of photographers who were totally involved in the
cultural and social life that they recorded. Malick Sidibe, a pivotal character in this scene, was highly appreciated by young people and was invited to all the parties the youth organized in clubs, learned the new dances coming from Europe and Cuba, and dressed elegantly in Western clothes.
In I957 he was the only reporter in Bamako who covered all the events, festivities and surprise-parties. On Saturdays, these parties lasted until dawn and continued on Sunday on the banks of the river Niger. This on-the-spot coverage provided simple pictures, full of truth and complicity. Spontaneity emerges from his photos: he captured the playful partying, full of laughter and life. He quit this activity in 1978, but continued his studio photography. His work has now gained an international recognition.
Sidibe died in 2016 in Bamako where he lived and worked.

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INSTALLATION Monday May 1 from 12 pm to 6pm
OPENING Tuesday May 2 from 6 to 8 pm

Opening hours :
from Wednesday May 3 to Saturday May 6 12 pm – 8 pm
Sunday May 7 from 12 pm – 5 pm

CLOSING PARTY Sunday May 7 from 5 pm to 7 pm

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www.galeriezurcher.com