Moscow Welcomes African Art: World Peoples Assembly Opens Series of Exhibitions Ahead of III Russia - Africa Summit

The World Peoples Assembly has launched a series of exhibitions of contemporary African artists ahead of the III Russia - Africa Summit. The program started in autumn 2026 in Barcelona and Moscow. For the Assembly, this is part of its work in public diplomacy: the language of art is understandable without translation and helps people from different countries to know each other better.

On 14 October, an exhibition opened at the Union of Artists of Catalonia, bringing together works by the winners of the international The African Women in Art Award (AWAA) 2024 and 2025. The exposition was presented by Josep Fèlix Bentz Oliver, President of the Reial Cercle Artístic. The organizer of the exhibition is the Her Voice gallery, curator - Natalia Shustova. The project is implemented with the support of the Assembly of Peoples of the World and the Ya-A gallery of contemporary African art.

The exposition features works by 14 women artists from Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Ethiopia, Zambia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Namibia. They are united by the theme of “Initiation” - the transition to a new stage of life, the transmission of knowledge and symbolic renewal. The exhibition will run until 23 October.

The AWAA award opens doors to big art for women artists from sub-Saharan Africa. It helps participants enter the international art scene, gain professional recognition and find partners among galleries and cultural institutions around the world. The award’s exhibition programme, which started in April 2026 in Addis Ababa, is now continuing in Europe.

- In Africa, girls still face inequality - it is much harder for them to get an education and realize themselves in creativity. I am convinced that AWAA and our foundation’s projects can change this situation. We are looking for talented women who will become role models for hundreds of girls, – said Yanina Dubeikovskaya, Deputy Executive Director of the World Peoples Assembly, founder of the AWAA award and the Her Voice foundation.

On 16 October in Moscow, at the Anna Mons mansion on Baumanskaya Street, the exhibition “Aspects of Woman in African Art” opened. The project was prepared by the Ya-A gallery together with the “Through the Eyes of an Artist” gallery with the support of the World People Assembly. The exposition features works by contemporary African authors, including Zambian artist Natasha Evans and Ethiopian artist Selamawit Gebretsadik, alongside the “African series” of Moscow author Darya Karacheva.

The female image in African art is traditionally associated with procreation, spiritual power and the continuity of generations. However, the exhibition participants reveal it differently - through the inner world and personal experience.

Deputy Director of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences Dmitry Bondarenko attended the opening. The exhibition will run until 30 October.

On 26 October, another exhibition - “Unity” - will open at the headquarters of the World Peoples Assembly. The project will bring together works by artists from 16 African countries. Their works sound the theme of unity: between people and communities, between generations and cultures, between the inner world of a person and shared responsibility for the future.

The exposition, first presented at the World Public Summit: Africa in Addis Ababa, will now find an audience in Moscow. Heads of the World Peoples Assembly and representatives of diplomatic missions of African states will speak at the opening. Artists from Ethiopia, Zambia and Sudan will join the event via video link. The exhibition will run until 30 October.

On 27 October, the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences will host the opening of the exhibition “Anti-Colonial Art” by Ethiopian artist Mikiyas Abera. His works are dedicated to the theme of colonialism, racism and their consequences. Combining tragedy and satire, the author explores the mechanisms of exclusion, forms of resistance and the boundaries of human dignity. The exhibition will run until 1 November.

During the III Russia - Africa Summit, exhibitions will also be held at several other venues in Moscow: at the Ubuntu Salon on Kosmodamianskaya Embankment, at the Novotel hotel on Kievskaya Street and at the Ararat Park Hyatt Moscow. The program will conclude on 18 November with the business reception “Africa: The Art of Opening Horizons.”

The World Peoples Assembly invites everyone interested in contemporary African art to the exhibitions and awaits official delegations from the countries participating in the III Russia - Africa Summit.

Visits to the expositions are by prior appointment.

Additional information is available on the official website of the World Peoples Assembly, on its VKontakte and Telegram accounts, and at media@world-assembly.org. Exhibition catalogues are available on the official website of the Ya-A gallery.