Celebrating African Artists for Black History Month and Beyond

By Daniella Angulo

October marks the UK’s celebration of Black History Month. While Paint the Change is a London-based organization, we work around the world to link our projects in global solidarity with others. We strongly believe that highlighting voices from the global majority is critical to celebrating our differences and creating greater understanding. This month, we’d like to highlight African artists using their talents to speak about social issues. These artists explore different questions and challenges through their work, imagining new possibilities.

Maasai Mbili

Based in Nairobi, Kenya, the Maasai Mbili Artists’ Collective (@maasai_mbili) works out of the Kibera slum. Kibera is recognized as the African continent’s largest informal settlement. Maasai Mbili, or M2, is deeply connected to this setting. Founded in 2001, it is seen as part of the neighborhood’s life, with its workspace also used as a community center that encourages creative engagement with social problems. Locally focused with an international presence, M2’s artists use their art to comment on various topics, ranging from climate change, peace, and the nuances of living in a slum.

El Anatsui

El Antatsui is a celebrated Ghanian sculptor who uses recycled objects in his work. In this way, he asks his audience to question their consumption and waste, connecting colonialism to environmental impacts in new ways. Using bottle caps, labels, and discarded metal scraps, he painstakingly combines thousands of these items to create large-scale sculptures that can be found around the world.

*‘Searching for Connection.’* Photo Credit

Docta/Doxandem Squad

A Senegalese artist, Docta (“doctor” in Wolof) is seen as one of the leaders of African graffiti. His art plays with African masks, wild style, bubble, and 3D elements to raise awareness of issues ranging from public health and sanitation to taking care of the environment and oppression. In 1994, he founded the Doxandem Squad, an international collective of graffiti artists. This group aims to promote Senegalese urban culture while giving back to their community and encouraging more youth in the arts. In 2009, they founded FESTIGRAFF, which is now Africa’s most famous graffiti festival.

Chela

One of the few female street artists in Kenya, Chela uses her artwork to encourage peace. She selects the locations she works in with care, going out of her way to share her art with under-resourced communities with higher rates of violence. She works as an artist and mentor, taking young girls on projects to show them they can also make street art. She specializes in vibrant, illustrative portraits of African women to celebrate Black femininity.

Zienixx

Zienixx is a street artist, slam poet, and singer who is known as Senegal’s ‘first lady of graffiti.’ she uses her work at home and abroad to highlight women’s strength, climate change, and inequality. Her art shares her hope for the future and asks viewers to think about different, more inclusive paths forward. She seeks out opportunities to mentor others through Zeinixx Entertainment, where she hosts visual arts workshops to share knowledge and resources.

*‘Women Connect to Innovate.’* *Photo Credit*

As MLK said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” We hope you enjoyed learning about these African artists, who are using their creativity to ask the public to think about local social issues in globally connected ways. While Black History Month ends in October, we owe it to ourselves to actively seek out different ways of storytelling through the arts. These artists offer new ways to interact with communities around their world and find our similarities. Thanks for reading!