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TOLO STUDIO

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Where memory meets contemporary creation, across design, art and cultural practices.

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Following the 1992 peace agreement that ended Mozambique’s civil war, Gonçalo Mabunda began working with decommissioned weapons collected through the Transforming Arms into Tools initiative.

AK-47s, pistols and rocket launchers are welded into masks, crowns and most notably thrones. Objects once associated with violence are transformed into sculptures that reflect on power and Mozambique’s recent history.

Image courtesy of the artist and Larkin Durey.

#goncalomabunda #mozambiqueart #africancontemporaryart #sculptureart by @tolo_studio

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a month ago

Born in Douala and raised between Cameroon and Switzerland, Koyo Kouoh spent decades building space for African voices in contemporary art, from founding Raw Material Company in Dakar to directing Zeitz MOCAA in Cape Town, the continent’s largest contemporary art museum.

In 2024 she was named artistic director of the Venice Biennale 2026, the first African woman to hold the role.
She died in May 2025, before she could unveil the exhibition’s title but her team completed the vision she had set in motion.

Video via @loic_abondo

#koyokouoh #venicebiennale #africancurator #contemporaryart by @tolo_studio

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2 months ago

Isishweshwe is one of South Africa’s most iconic textiles yet its story begins elsewhere.

Inspired by Indian printed cottons and adapted into the European indigo printing tradition known as Blaudruck, the fabric arrived in Southern Africa through colonial trade and missionary networks before gradually taking on an entirely different meaning.

Over generations, Zulu, Xhosa and Sotho communities incorporated Isishweshwe into ceremonies, everyday dress and family traditions, transforming an imported cloth into a distinctly South African cultural textile.

Today Isishweshwe is produced locally and remains closely associated with South African cultural life.

#isishweshwe #africantextile #southafrica #textilehistory #fabricandidentity by @tolo_studio

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3 months ago

Romuald Hazoumé turns discarded fuel cans into faces.

Since the 1980s, Hazoumé has transformed these everyday objects into masks that speak of labour, survival and the human cost of an economy built on necessity. Drawing on the visual language of traditional African masks, his sculptures remain rooted in the realities of contemporary West Africa.

Worn by years of circulation, each container already seems to carry an expression, a grin, a stare, a weary face…

Image courtesy of the artist.

#romualdhazoume #beninart #africancontemporaryart #contemporaryart #contemporarysculpture by @tolo_studio

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3 months ago

@beyagillegacha develops a practice where memory, body and heritage come together through beadwork and sculpture, navigating between tradition and contemporary circulation.

She will be featured at the Venice Biennale 2026 in the Cameroon Pavilion.

© Beya Gil Gacha + Afrikaris

#contemporaryart #venicebiennale2026 #africancontemporaryartist by @tolo_studio

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5 months ago

It’s less than a month before the opening of the Venice Biennale 2026.

This year’s edition will unfold under the theme “In Minor Keys”. A curatorial framework that shifts attention toward quieter gestures, subtle narratives and more intimate registers of experience across the Giardini.

In the meantime, we’ll be sharing a selection of artists featured in this edition. A way to encounter their work ahead of the exhibition and to begin tracing the ideas, forms and questions that shape their practice.

#venicebiennale #biennalearte #contemporaryart #artscene #venice2026 by @tolo_studio

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6 months ago

« Missing narratives » a series by multimedia artist Isabel Tueumuna Katjavivi.

In this installation, she transformed family photographs by anonymizing the figures (traced, blacked out, carved), then rephotographed them on sand to evoke memory and the historical violence in Namibia.
Her work critiqued the erasure of individuals in official narratives while highlighting the personal objects that remained around the silhouettes.

© courtesy of the artist.

#isabeltueumunakatjavivi #namibianartist by @tolo_studio

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6 months ago

Often compared to Basquiat, Aboudia (Abdoulaye Diarrassouba) develops a distinct visual language rooted in Abidjan’s street life.

Influenced by graffiti and inspired by everyday scenes, his work unfolds in spontaneous, expressive compositions, bringing together bold, childlike figures and symbolic marks carrying multiple narratives.

© courtesy of the artist.

#aboudia #graffiti #contemporaryartist #ivorianartist #contemproraryart by @tolo_studio

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6 months ago

An afternoon inside Mickalene Thomas’s bold, layered universe at the Grand Palais.
Rhinestones, textures, and powerful portraits redefining black beauty and representation.

No worries it’s only 1/5 of the exhibition…

#mickalenethomas #africancontemporaryart #blackwomenbeauty #grandpalais #collageartwork #rhinestonesart #portraits taken in Paris, France by @tolo_studio

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7 months ago

Tonia Nneji is a Nigerian contemporary artist whose work interrogates representations of the female body and the social discourses surrounding women’s health.

Her compositions are distinguished by assertive female figures, intense colours, and the use of commemorative fabrics inspired by West African textiles. Through painting, she addresses notions of trauma, memory, and bodily autonomy.

A practice that unfolds between personal experience and cultural context, bringing to light realities that are often relegated to silence.

Copyright the artist.

#tonianneji #figurativepainting #nigerianart #africancontemporaryart #emergingvoices #contemporaryart #africanwomenartists #artandidentity by @tolo_studio

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7 months ago

@elanatsui.art ‘s work transforms everyday materials into monumental artworks of striking visual power.

Through intricate assemblages of recycled bottle caps and metal fragments, the artist explores themes of memory, consumption, and collective history.

He recently unveiled a new work at Art Basel Qatar, once again demonstrating his ability to reimagine materiality on a spectacular scale.

Video credits @axelvervoordt_co

#elanatsui #contemporaryart #contemporaryartist #artbasel #artbaseldoha #contemporaryafricanart by @tolo_studio

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8 months ago

@amoakoboafo the Ghanaian artist redefining contemporary portraiture.

Currently exhibiting in Los Angeles with @robertsprojects.

Image courtesy of the artist.

#amoakoboafo #contemporaryart #ghanianartist #figurativeartist #blackportraiture by @tolo_studio

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8 months ago