2018, Year for Contemporary African Art [Culture, TMC]

Its simply impossible to talk art in 2018 without making a quick reference to the works of art looted on the continent during the colonial era.

African curators have been calling for the return of these objects, particularly after the opening of the Museum of Black Civilizations in Dakar, Senegal.

More and more identical cultural centres are beginning to emerge across the continent; pending the return of tens of thousands of pieces which, according to experts, represent 90% of Africa’s cultural heritage.

And no work illustrates the effect of art on collective consciousness better than the portrait of Tutu, an African princess and a true icon in Nigeria.

This portrait of a Yoruba woman, painted by the late Ben Enwonwu, a contemporary artist of Igbo origin, became a symbol of national reconciliation after the Biafra war from 1967 to 1970.

Lost from view after being last exhibited in 1975,‘Tutu’ was found in a London apartment in February, and exhibited during the Art X Lagos biennale.