Somerset House on London's Strand is a long way from Josiah Tongogara Street. For four days this month, First Floor Gallery Harare closed that gap. It hung new work by Wycliffe Mundopa, Grace Nyahangare, Again Chokuwamba and Troy Makaza at 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair, the biggest date in Europe for art from Africa.[1] All four are Zimbabwean, and every one of them has a track record at home. The gallery's own sales list suggests London was paying attention.[2]

What happened in London

The fair's 14th London edition ran from 15 to 18 October 2026 at Somerset House, with First Floor Gallery Harare among the exhibitors presenting all four artists.[1] Forty galleries took part. Founding director Touria El Glaoui said this edition "places African artists where they belong, as authors of modern and contemporary art."[3] That line carried extra weight this year. A Modern Spotlight exhibition, "West Wind", curated by Dr Nancy Dantas, put modernists such as Gerard Sekoto and Ibrahim El-Salahi under the same roof as the contemporary booths.[1][3]

The four artists

Wycliffe Mundopa had the largest share of the booth. He showed mostly small 2026 oils, among them the "Heat in the Afternoon" series and "When you drink water, think of its source".[2] The gallery says his work centres people society tends to overlook, painted with emotional intensity, irony and empathy. In 2025 he had a show at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe, "Ibwe Rakaraswa ne Muvaki".[4]

Grace Nyahangare works in oil and monoprint. Her pieces included "Rokwe rinenyaya (The dress is the issue)" and a new "Audacity" series, the largest of them 150cm square. Her "Bahnhof" paintings link to "Democratic Encounters: Harare & Munich", a 2026 exhibition in Germany.[2] Her solo show "Mother of One" opened at the gallery in February.[4]

Again Chokuwamba brought oil paintings, including "Celestial Muse" and "Drowning in my thoughts".[2] The second shares a title with his 2024 solo show in Harare, "Drowning in my Senses".[4]

Troy Makaza is the outlier, and he is easy to spot. His works are made from silicone infused with pigment, which the gallery describes as "surreal works woven from painted silicone." In London he showed a new three-part work, "Two steps sideways", next to the larger "Dzimba-centric (Arctic)".[2] His CV already includes the Nova sector at Art Basel Miami Beach and shows at Galerie Poggi in Paris.[4]

Prices in the online viewing room run from £450 for a small Nyahangare to £7,500 for the Makaza. Several works are marked sold, among them two Chokuwambas and three Nyahangares.[2]

How the First Floor model works

First Floor Gallery Harare is run by artists, and its exhibition archive starts in 2009. The approach is plain from its calendar: show artists in Harare first, then take them out on the fair circuit. In 2026 alone the gallery did the Investec Cape Town Art Fair, FNB Art Joburg and 1-54 London. Earlier years took it to Artissima in Turin, MIART in Milan, EXPO Chicago, Art Dubai and Africa Basel. Every artist on the London booth has had a recent solo show or major exhibition at home.[4] That is the right order. Fairs are where reputations and prices get set, but the work is made here.

Why it matters

A Harare gallery selling Harare painters in pounds is the market working the way it should. Zimbabwean artists are being priced and collected internationally on their own terms. The catch is that a lot of the best work leaves the country before most Zimbabweans see it in person.

The timing makes this more than one good week in London. From 20 to 22 November, the National Gallery of Zimbabwe hosts the 58th CIMAM Annual Conference, the first time it has been held anywhere in Africa.[5] CIMAM is the international committee for museums and collections of modern art, so museum directors and curators from around the world are about to arrive in Harare. They will find galleries that already compete abroad. The question now is whether those visitors make the short walk from the National Gallery to the independent spaces doing the groundwork.

See it in Harare

First Floor Gallery Harare is at 3 Castille Court, 65 Josiah Tongogara Street. It opens Monday to Friday from 10am to 4.30pm, Saturday from 11am to 4pm, and on Sundays by appointment.[4] The full 1-54 London booth is also up as an online viewing room on the gallery's website.[2]

Sources

  1. 1-54 London Announces a Special Projects Programme for its 14th Edition, 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎

  2. FFGH @1-54 London 2026 viewing room, First Floor Gallery Harare ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎

  3. What to see at 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair 2026 in London, Wallpaper ↩︎ ↩︎

  4. First Floor Gallery Harare, First Floor Gallery Harare ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎

  5. National Gallery of Zimbabwe, National Gallery of Zimbabwe ↩︎

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Rufaro