Retro Africa

Retro Africa Retro Africa is a network of art enthusiasts, curators and collectors. For The Love Of African Art!

We provide a platform for emerging and established Artists through a range of creative outlets such as Pop-up exhibitions, Art Fairs, intercultural dialogues and our online medium. We create opportunities for African Artists online, building a community of art creators, lovers and buyers

A huge congratulations to Myles Igwe (), who has been announced as one of the participating artists in Sharjah Biennial ...
28/04/2026

A huge congratulations to Myles Igwe (), who has been announced as one of the participating artists in Sharjah Biennial 2027, "What remains, sits restive", curated by Angela Harutyunyan and Paula Nascimento. His inclusion forms part of Paula Nascimento’s section of the Biennial, which brings together artists engaging infrastructure, memory, and spatial histories as ways of rethinking contemporary life. We cannot wait to see his work presented within this important global platform.

Founded in 1993 by the Sharjah Art Foundation in the UAE, the Sharjah Biennial is one of the most influential contemporary art exhibitions globally, bringing together artists, curators, and cultural practitioners from across the world through exhibitions, commissions, performances, and public programmes that engage urgent artistic and social questions.

Cheers Myles!

Photo Credit: Daniel Obasi ()

A huge congratulations to Léonard Pongo (), who has been invited by the late curator Koyo Kouoh to showcase at the 61st ...
20/04/2026

A huge congratulations to Léonard Pongo (), who has been invited by the late curator Koyo Kouoh to showcase at the 61st Venice Biennale, opening in May 2026. This exciting announcement follows our presentation of a selection of his Primordial Earth works at the Armory Show in September 2025. We cannot wait to see him take the global stage.

Cheers, Léonard! We could not be more thrilled.

IMAGE 1:
Léonard Pongo

IMAGE 2:
Install shots, Armory Show, 2025

IMAGE 3:
Leonard Pongo
‘Untitled (Primordial Earth)’
110 x 165 cm
Giclée print on Hahnemühle
2020

In this work, 'The Traveler', artist Ken Nwadiogbu () paints a figure drawn from a recurring yet distant encounter with ...
09/04/2026

In this work, 'The Traveler', artist Ken Nwadiogbu () paints a figure drawn from a recurring yet distant encounter with an individual he has often observed within the queues of a visa office. Unlike the familiar faces that he uses in his practice, this figure remains unknown to the artist yet becomes a vessel for a broader reflection on mobility and aspiration. Here, Nwadiogbu reimagines him at a pivotal threshold: having emerged from the queue, he stands poised on the verge of departure, ready to begin his next chapter.

Behind him, a wire fence, shadowed figures, and looming architectural forms evoke the weight of prior constraints, marking both personal struggle and the systemic limitations that continue to shape and restrict freedom of movement. As the artist suggests, travel operates not only as physical transition but also as a means of self-discovery and belonging; yet, this freedom is not universally granted.

IMAGE:
Ken Nwadiogbu
'The Traveler'
170 x 170 cm
Oil on Canvas
2024

We are excited to share that this piece has gone to a remarkable private collection.

Congratulations to artist Ken Nwadiogbu () on winning the Young Generation Art Award 2026 by .gold and .Initiated by Deg...
21/02/2026

Congratulations to artist Ken Nwadiogbu () on winning the Young Generation Art Award 2026 by .gold and .

Initiated by Degussa Goldhandel and Germany’s leading art magazine Monopol Magazin, the award honors outstanding emerging artistic positions and supports the next generation of contemporary art.

We are proud of this achievement and cannot wait to see all that you will accomplish next.
Cheers to the rising star ✨

In this work, Chijioke Anyacho () turns the dynamics of ambition and dependence into a shifting, unstable terrain. Figur...
30/12/2025

In this work, Chijioke Anyacho () turns the dynamics of ambition and dependence into a shifting, unstable terrain. Figures appear to surf on the bodies of others, movement propelled not by balance alone, but by who is carrying whom. It speaks to a familiar reality: lives built through mutual support, and lives advanced at the expense of another.

The painting holds no clear hero or victim. Instead, it leaves us suspended in the tension between ascent and burden, asking where agency ends and exploitation begins and what it truly costs to move forward.

On view as part of 'A Bench is Made of Wood but a Bench is Not a Tree', a solo exhibition by Chijioke Anyacho at Retro Africa Gallery, Abuja.

IMAGES:
Chijioke Anyacho
'Don’t fly too close to the sun (ii)'
120 x 158 cm
Oil on canvas
2025

Thank you to everyone who came out to support 'A Bench is Made of Wood but a Bench is Not a Tree' by Chijioke Anyacho ()...
20/12/2025

Thank you to everyone who came out to support 'A Bench is Made of Wood but a Bench is Not a Tree' by Chijioke Anyacho (). Your presence helped bring this body of work into conversation where themes of becoming, agency, and emotional survival found resonance beyond the canvas. We are grateful for the shared moments, thoughtful exchanges, and the collective energy that marked the opening evening.

On view at Retro Africa Gallery, Abuja.

"To make a rainbow you need three things; raindrops, sunlight and you"In this work, Chijioke Anyacho () reflects on beco...
18/12/2025

"To make a rainbow you need three things; raindrops, sunlight and you"

In this work, Chijioke Anyacho () reflects on becoming, how beauty often emerges from the meeting of hardship, hope, and personal agency. Fragility and colour coexist, reminding us that transformation is not passive; it asks for presence.

On view as part of 'A Bench is Made of Wood but a Bench is Not a Tree', a solo exhibition by Chijioke Anyacho at Retro Africa Gallery, Abuja.

IMAGES:
Chijioke Anyacho
"To make a rainbow you need three things; raindrops, sunlight and you"
122x122cm
Oil on canvas
2025

In 'A Bench is Made of Wood but a Bench is Not a Tree', Chijioke Anyacho’s paintings move between presence and absence f...
14/12/2025

In 'A Bench is Made of Wood but a Bench is Not a Tree', Chijioke Anyacho’s paintings move between presence and absence figures emerge, dissolve, and reassemble within layered surfaces that echo childhood recollections and emotional inheritance.

Pulled from family photographs and imagined scenes, the works wrestle with identity, fatherhood, and the quiet weight of what is missing, offering tenderness without resolution.

now on view at Retro Africa Gallery, Abuja.

Join us this Saturday, 13th December at 4:00PM for an intimate artist talk with Chijioke Anyacho (), in conversation wit...
12/12/2025

Join us this Saturday, 13th December at 4:00PM for an intimate artist talk with Chijioke Anyacho (), in conversation with Dolly Kola-Balogun and moderated by Jennifer Agusiobo.

As part of 'A Bench is Made of Wood but a Bench is Not a Tree' exhibition, this discussion opens a window into the memories, questions, and emotional landscapes behind the work.

We look forward to seeing you at the Retro Africa gallery, No.12, Ukpabi Asika Street, Asokoro, Abuja, Nigeria.

12/12/2025

Today at 6:00 PM, we open 'A Bench is Made of Wood but a Bench is Not a Tree', an solo exhibition by Chijioke Anyacho (). A deeply personal journey through memory, longing, and the quiet architecture of becoming.

Step into these emotional dreamscapes. Sit with the stories. Allow the work to speak.

Opening tonight at Retro Africa Gallery, Abuja by 6:00PM.

We look forward to welcoming you.

In this powerful work from the upcoming exhibition ‘A Bench is Made of Wood but a Bench is Not a Tree’, Chijioke Anyacho...
10/12/2025

In this powerful work from the upcoming exhibition ‘A Bench is Made of Wood but a Bench is Not a Tree’, Chijioke Anyacho () confronts the emotional architecture shaped by paternal absence, reclaiming memory not as something fixed, but as something rewritten, repaired, and reimagined.

Suspended between presence and erasure, the figure becomes both the child he was and the man he chooses to become. Through layered colour, tender distortion, and quiet vulnerability, the painting holds the tension between longing and becoming, an insistence that inheritance does not define destiny.

“A Bench is Made of Wood but a Bench is Not a Tree.” A solo exhibition featuring Chijioke Anyacho.

OPENING: Friday, 12 December, 2025
TIME: 6:00PM

IMAGES:
Chijioke Anyacho
“I want to become the man my father wasn’t”
92x122cm
Oil on Canvas
2024

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12 Ukpabi Asika Street, Asokoro
Abuja

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