1-54 CONTEMPORARY AFRICAN ART FAIR LONDON

Loft Art Gallery returns to 1-54 London with a duo presentation by artists Amina Rezki and James Mishio. Bringing together two distinct approaches to contemporary figuration, the presentation explores questions of identity, memory and perception through painting and mixed media. Across their respective practices, Rezki and Mishio use the human figure as a space for introspection and experimentation, examining how lived experience, memory and encounters with place shape the ways in which we perceive ourselves and the world around us.

Amina Rezki's paintings are characterised by an intuitive and expressive approach to figuration. Faces, bodies and gestures emerge through layered fields of colour and line, creating compositions that move between observation and memory. Rezki creates psychologically charged spaces in which the figure becomes a vehicle for exploring intimacy, vulnerability and interior states.

Alongside Rezki, Loft Art Gallery presents new works by Ghanean artist James Mishio, developed during his 2026 residency with the gallery in Marrakech. The residency marks a period of experimentation within the artist’s practice, shaped by his encounter with the city’s architecture, colour, patterns and atmosphere. For Mishio, space is not simply a physical setting, but something capable of carrying stories, energy and emotion. His experience of Marrakech prompted what the artist describes as a process of “recalibration” and deeper introspection, encouraging him to reconsider his perception of colour, people and culture and to approach his practice from a more flexible position. This shift is particularly visible in Mishio’s increased use of oil pastel, a material he associates with freedom, spontaneity and childhood.