ABOUT
The Southern Art Hub is a nomadic contemporary art gallery and cultural platform dedicated to artistic practices emerging from the Global South. Founded in 2021, it builds on the foundation of The African Art Hub, expanding its scope to reflect a more interconnected understanding of artistic production across Africa, Latin America, South and Southeast Asia, Oceania, and their diasporas. This evolution recognises that the histories, struggles, and creative imaginaries of these regions are deeply entangled. Operating nomadically, The Southern Art Hub is not bound to a single location. Instead, it works across geographies, contexts, and institutions, engaging artists and audiences wherever meaningful exchange can occur. This approach allows for a responsive and context-driven programme that prioritises dialogue, proximity, and relevance.
The Southern Art Hub works with artists whose practices are grounded in lived experience, cultural memory, and community knowledge. Its programme foregrounds practices that engage with identity, materiality, migration, and postcolonial realities, contributing to a more nuanced and representative global art discourse. While distinct from the personal collecting practice of its founder and director, Abraham Abia, the gallery operates as a curatorial and cultural platform rather than a collecting entity. Abraham’s ongoing collection, which began in 2015, includes works by artists such as Abderrahmane Rahoule, Julien Sinzogan, Ibrahim Bamidele, Kay Gasei, Kelani Fatai, Tiffany Annabelle, and Bisila Noha, among others, reflecting a broader commitment to engaging with artistic practices across the Global South. The role of The Southern Art Hub is to support the global circulation of these works with integrity. It is committed to ensuring that artistic practices are presented without distortion, simplification, or extraction, and that artists retain the complexity and context of their work as they enter international platforms.
At a time when culture is increasingly politicised and instrumentalised, The Southern Art Hub approaches artistic visibility as an act of care, responsibility, and resistance. It seeks to create space for multiple voices and perspectives to coexist, contributing to a more inclusive and critically engaged global art landscape.
