Alserkal Avenue Gets a Vibrant New Voice: Efie Gallery Brings African Contemporary Art to the Forefront in Dubai
In April, a new chapter was written in the evolving story of Dubai’s thriving art scene. The prestigious art hub of Alserkal Avenue, home to over 70 contemporary art galleries, welcomed its first dedicated African art space — the monumental launch of the Efie Gallery. With a clear mission to amplify African voices, aesthetics, and narratives, the gallery’s opening exhibition marked the debut of world-renowned Afro-Cuban artist María Magdalena Campos-Pons with her evocative showcase titled I Am Soil, My Tears Are Water.
The exhibition explores themes of “land” and “belonging”, central tenets of identity and diaspora. Visitors are immediately enveloped by towering sculptures inspired by “sugar cane”, evoking the harsh landscapes of Cuba’s sugar plantations where the artist’s African ancestors were once enslaved. Set against the gallery’s high ceilings, the steel structures echo the brutal history while offering a space for contemplation and remembrance.
The new 4,400 sq ft. space — a stark upgrade from Efie’s former temporary homes in Dubai — represents not just more room for artwork, but more room for stories. On the gallery’s upper floor, artworks from across the continent unfurl in all their variety. Visitors can experience the iconic “aluminium bottle cap murals” by Ghanaian titan El Anatsui, whose pieces confront consumption and transformation. Alongside them, Ethiopian artist Aïda Muluneh showcases vivid, painting-like photography, and Malian artist Abdoulaye Konaté contributes a striking textile-based mural, bursting with symbolism and complex color narratives.
“We thought we should have a roster so diverse that one day you can come to an exhibition and absolutely hate it, say this is ridiculous; and the next month you can come and say oh this is the greatest exhibition ever,” says Kwame Mintah, one of Efie Gallery’s co-founders. “At that moment you cannot say if you hate or love African art, because you realise that African art is just that, art.”
Together with his brother Kobe and mother Valentina, Kwame Mintah embarked on this ambitious journey not from an art world pedigree, but from a deeply personal conviction. “We didn’t grow up wanting to become artists, we just grew up knowing who we are and wanting to portray it,” Kwame explains. Witnessing African art being relegated to “second-tier status” in the UK — often reduced to “wildlife and crafts” — the Mintah family found the Middle East a more open, less defined landscape.
“Where in the West everything was focused on the structure of the narrative, here it was like you were given a blank canvas to construct the narrative. We were going to be the ones to define African art,” Kwame says.
Efie Gallery’s journey began with a presentation at the All Africa Festival in Dubai, where they showcased a vibrant pavilion designed by Ghanaian architect Alice Asafu-Adjaye. Among the artists featured was Ghana’s Yaw Owusu, whose mixed media works incorporate “decommissioned coins” to interrogate ideas of “value” in modern economic and cultural contexts.
“[Efie’s] presence in the UAE has not only provided visibility for my work but, more importantly, has deepened and expanded the context in which it is received,” Yaw Owusu shares. Following that initial platform, Efie supported Owusu through a dedicated residency program in collaboration with Dubai Culture, culminating in his first solo exhibition in the UAE in 2022.
The United Arab Emirates — home to over 200 nationalities, with expatriates making up 92% of Dubai’s population — provides a fertile ground for the gallery’s vision of cross-cultural dialogue. Efie Gallery is more than an exhibition space; it is a “platform for artistic residencies, sales, and auctions,” extending support not only to the artists but also to intercultural understanding. One of the gallery’s pieces has even found its way into the Louvre’s permanent collection — a prestigious nod to African art’s broader global relevance.
“We really wanted to make sure there is a cross-cultural exchange between the two regions, that we are not just here but also engaged with the people here,” Kwame says. “When artists come, they first engage with the local artist, local farmers, local institutions to understand where they are…and then they create based on this exchange.”
Looking ahead, Efie Gallery is developing a “bilateral cultural program” that will bring Middle Eastern artists to Africa, fostering collaborative artistic exploration.
While the exhibitions are ever-changing, one element remains permanent: a “cozy, curated listening room” housing over 2,000 original vinyl and shellac records, spanning from the 1940s to today. The collection features legends such as Nigeria’s Fela Kuti, Algeria’s Warda, and Jamaica’s African Brothers Band. This musical touchpoint reinforces the gallery’s identity as a communal and immersive space.
“At most galleries worldwide, you feel like you cannot talk, like you are not allowed to be there. As Africans, we are all about community, we are all about inviting, all about being accommodating; and by adding this musical element, now when any gallery comes to Dubai and they see our space, then they feel like they have to catch up,” says Kwame.
The Efie Gallery’s next major show will be a film and photographic exhibition curated by Nigeria’s Ose Ekore. Opening in June and running through July, it will feature works by “Samuel Fosso, Aïda Muluneh, Kelani Abass, Abeer Sultan, and Sumaya Fallatah”. The collection is set to delve into how art captures time’s role in “healing, growth, and personal understanding”.
Notably, Saudi artists Sultan and Fallatah represent vital diasporic connections: it is estimated that 10% of Saudi Arabia’s population trace their origins to countries like Nigeria, Mali, Gambia, Senegal, and Chad — a reflection of deep-rooted Afro-Arab linkages that Efie Gallery continues to explore.
“When it comes to the representation of Africans and the African diaspora, art can challenge stereotypes, reclaim histories, and affirm identities that have long been misrepresented or erased. Through visual language, storytelling, and symbolism, African and African diaspora artists can address historical systems and legacies in a way that’s both visceral and intellectually engaging,” stresses Yaw Owusu.
For Kwame, what matters now is not only seeing African art more widely, but ensuring that Africans themselves are the stewards of their own creative spaces. “From being an African that exhibits African work: there are some references where unless you are from the continent, you will not even understand (them). I just encourage more Africans to do it because we have to own our own narrative. I think art is like the fabric of all society.”
Efie Gallery has brought bold, unapologetic African art into the heart of Dubai’s cultural life — and in doing so, opened up a broader global conversation on ownership, narrative, and the universal power of creativity.
Team V.DIR-EM-UAE
