Today marks World Art Day, an annual celebration of creativity’s power to inspire, connect, and reshape societies. As I reflect on what art means to me, I’m reminded of how personal this relationship with creativity has become. Growing up with a sibling who loves art and is currently navigating his career in the creative industry, I’ve witnessed firsthand how art can be both a calling and a compass. He’s still on the journey of finding his voice, experimenting with mediums and messages but in watching him, I’ve developed my own love for art and how it offers fresh perspectives on life.
I write this with a full heart, having just visited Circa and Everard Read in Rosebank yesterday. Wandering through those galleries, surrounded by works that echo African histories, modern challenges, and untold stories, I was reminded how art isn’t just about aesthetics , it’s about narrative, memory, and reclamation.
My connection to creative expression isn’t new. In my varsity years, I found a language of my own through contemporary dance. Much like visual art, dance allowed me to process complex emotions and ideas that words often couldn’t hold. That shared energy between movement and canvas, body and paint has taught me that art in all its forms offers us a way to question, to heal, and to belong.
Yet for far too long, the art historical narrative has favoured Western perspectives, often undervaluing African art and limiting its global visibility. Thankfully, this is shifting. In the past decade, collectors and curators worldwide have started recognizing the rich histories and significance of African art, particularly in the contemporary space.
Consider this: while the global art market is valued at $68 billion, work by African artists now exceeds an annual value of $72 million — more than doubling since 2016. According to Artnet’s 2025 Intelligence Report, postwar and contemporary art continues to lead the global market, generating just under $4 billion in 2024 alone.
What’s especially exciting is the surge in ultra-contemporary African art — works by artists under the age of 45 — which accounted for the highest sales volumes on the continent. In fact, Africa is the only region where ultra-contemporary art has surpassed all other genres over the last decade. Sales in this category soared from $16.2 million in 2020 to $40.6 million in 2021, with market forecasts suggesting the African art market could grow to $1.5 billion this year.
Institutions like Aspire Art have played a crucial role in this growth, actively promoting undervalued 20th-century Black artists while introducing a genuinely pan-African collection of modern and contemporary works to international audiences. Aspire has set record-breaking sales for artists like Joseph Ntensibe, whose shimmering large-scale canvases spotlight Uganda’s environmental challenges, and Mary Sibande, whose mixed-media work interrogates race, gender, and labour in post-apartheid South Africa.
Partnerships with global auction houses like Paris-based Piasa have expanded these artists’ reach even further, introducing African creatives to new collectors and patrons worldwide. And as real-time online auctions become increasingly popular, access to African contemporary art is no longer limited by geography — a crucial shift in ensuring African stories are told and owned by those they represent.
So, as we celebrate World Art Day, it feels especially significant to acknowledge how African art is reclaiming its rightful place on the global stage. Beyond its market value, African art carries our memories, our futures, and our collective resilience. And whether through galleries in Rosebank, auction houses in Paris, or the quiet conversations between siblings at home, it continues to shape, challenge, and heal us in ways that numbers alone could never capture.
