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AKAA 2026: Women Artists in the Spotlight at the Carreau du Temple
The 11th edition of AKAA, a contemporary art fair of Africa and its diaspora, took place at the Carreau du Temple in Paris, running until Sunday, October 25, 2026. It pays tribute to photography, celebrating its bicentenary, and Franceinfo features five women artists.
Par la rédaction Walensky · 3 min de lecture
- 11th edition of the AKAA fair in Paris
- 5 women artists featured by Franceinfo
- 10 works on display from the five finalists of the ellipse Prize
The 11th edition of AKAA took place at the Carreau du Temple in Paris, running until Sunday, October 25, 2026. This annual contemporary art fair showcases artists from Africa or from its diaspora.
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This year, women artists are represented just as well as men. Franceinfo highlights five of them, whose approaches are very different. The 2026 edition also pays tribute to photography, celebrating its bicentenary.
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The poster for this edition comes from the work of photographer Angèle Etoundi Essamba, a Cameroonian artist who lives in Amsterdam. It is a shot from the series Girl with the Amber Eearing (spelled as in the article), inspired by Johannes Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring.
In this photograph, the young girl is Black. Her head is wrapped in a blue and yellow velvet turban, and she wears an amber earring: the turban and earring echo the colors of Vermeer's portrait. According to Franceinfo, the artist thus gives this icon a new presence.
Painting, Embroidery and Cut Fabrics
Jomad was born in Fort-de-France, Martinique, and creates figurative compositions. On her social media, she explains that her paintings give visible form to what she has lived through. For her, figuration belongs to the garden of memories, a place for reflecting on what makes us who we are. According to Franceinfo, the human body and lush nature meet within the same space.
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Rachel Malaika, born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, describes herself as a photographer and activist, and works across multiple disciplines. She reworks colonial-era photographs with embroidery and tufted motifs, a technique used for rugs. According to her gallery's website, her self-portraits show women in positions of power that history has mostly attributed to men.
Turiya Magadlela, a South African artist, creates from cut-up pieces of fabric and tights. Represented by Galleria Anna Maria, she explores, according to the gallery, confinement and constraint, and the idea that bodies are forced to conform to predefined molds. Her distorted fabrics symbolize the physical and psychological pressures endured by individuals and society.
Only One Woman Among the Five Finalists of the ellipse Prize
Since 2021, the ellipse Prize has been exploring a new artistic scene from the African continent each year. This year, for its fifth anniversary, it turns its focus to the bicentenary of photography. Under the name AKAA Photo, the fair presents the five photographer finalists and their ten works.
Among these finalists, only one woman : Ivorian artist and researcher Keren Lasme. A finalist for the prize in 2022 with a series devoted to young Ivorian women with albinism, she is exhibiting two portraits from that series this year. She says she wants to "reclaim Africa's intellectual heritage".
Our take
From the portrait inspired by Vermeer to the cut-up tights, these artists show that an image can draw on older references and shift them. At home, a painting or photograph can also carry a broader story than what meets the eye at first glance.
Source: Franceinfo.
