Latitudes is back, in person

Latitudes Art Fair launched in 2019 in Sandton as a more accessible and affordable pan-African art fair alternative to the country’s mainstream ones in Joburg and Cape Town. Co-founders Roberta Coci and Lucy MacGarry responded to the Covid pandemic lockdowns by moving the entire fair online as an art marketplace — one of the first local art businesses to do so. The strategy has reaped dividends, with Latitudes Online increasing its subscriber base more than threefold, and exponentially increasing its sales reach on a global platform for African art. 

Now these intrepid art entrepreneurs have joined forces with Rand Merchant Bank to help revive their original in-person Art Fair after a four-year hiatus. RMB Latitudes is styled as an “innovative new indoor/outdoor art experience” and will run in an autumnal Joburg from May 26-28.

The business of RMB Latitudes remains the same as in 2019: to curate and bring together artists and exhibitors from across Africa at Shepstone Gardens, a magnificent three-acre garden property on the east side of the city on Linksfield Ridge.

Almost 50 exhibitors from Sub-Saharan Africa and Europe will be spread across the venue’s multi-level baroque layout. Set into hanging gardens against the ridge, Shepstone features a fully equipped white-cube gallery space, a set of balconies and turrets, what resemble Victorian conservatories and a stone church — all across three levels with many views of Joburg.

Apart from the roll-call of galleries, — from major SA names such as Goodman Gallery, Everard Read and SMAC, to Harare’s First Floor and Germany’s ArtCo — there is a curated special section that incorporates various exhibitions and projects. According to Latitudes special projects curator Nkhensani Mkhari, “The central curatorial theme for the 2023 edition is co-emergence. In the context of African art, co-emergence refers to the complexities embedded in the interaction of various cultural and aesthetic influences on the creation and interpretation of African art.”

The special projects include a group exhibition headlined by stalwart Sam Nhlengethwa, INDEX (an Independent Artist’s Exhibition), a talk programme in collaboration with auction house Strauss & Co, and an international galleries programme.

“New platforms such as RMB Latitudes are vitally important. They offer innovative models for cultural and artistic engagement that have evolved from the decay of our previous ways of living, and are developing new models for today,” says Azu Nwagbogu, founder and director of Lagos-based African Artists’ Foundation (AAF), and RMB Latitudes’ curatorial adviser.

“We are looking forward to welcoming visitors and the arts industry to a uniquely African art experience that is inclusive, fair, highly curated and embraces our natural environment,” says MacGarry. “Having always admired RMB’s committed support of the arts and refreshing approach to their many arts initiatives, we are incredibly proud to come together to realise our shared vision.”