October Gallery presents two curated booths of striking works by Zana Masombuka, Xanthe Somers, Eddy Kamuanga Ilunga, Yacout Hamdouch, LR Vandy, Romuald Hazoumè, and Alexis Peskine at the 2026 edition of 1-54 London. Through innovative practices, the Gallery’s two captivating presentations explore ecology, materiality, identity and history across the African continent and the African diaspora.

Booth S8 features works by Zana Masombuka, Xanthe Somers, Eddy Kamuanga Ilunga and Yacout Hamdouch. Highlights include new photographic works by South African artist Zana Masombuka, which are framed with intricate Ndebele beadwork, celebrating indigenous knowledge, cultural identity and resilience. Rooted in the artisanal traditions of KwaNdebele, her practice responds to the erosion of cultural heritage caused by rapid modernisation and urbanizasion. In Akhulumile Amabhudango: Scenes from Dreams – Journeys with Kosabo, Masombuka honours her late grandfather through dreamlike explorations of kinship, ancestry, and spiritual guidance. Beaded motifs reference iiRholwane zabo Baba – neck rings worn by Ndebele patriarchs – while circular frames woven from indigenous grasses evoke cyclical relationships with nature, underscoring the interconnectedness of cultural continuity, ecological balance and ancestral memory.

Xanthe Somers debuts Carer, Cleaner, Mother, Maker, a new series examining women’s labour postcolonial histories and environmental injustice across the Global South. Somers combines ceramic, basketry and textile traditions of Zimbabwe to create elaborate sculptural forms Her ceramics draw on a rich vocabulary of contemporary symbols to examine what she refers to as the “subtle treason of objects”. Their hand-coiled forms bristle, morph and move, fusing political commentary with a strong sense of domestic intimacy. Centred on the motif of unravelling, the works explore fragility, memory and social cohesion, reclaiming craft as a powerful vehicle for storytelling and amplifying the often-overlooked experiences of generations of women.

The recent paintings by Eddy Kamuanga Ilunga, are richly layered works that examine the enduring legacies of colonial exploitation in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Set against stark grey backgrounds, his meticulously rendered figures wear imported “African” textiles and hold botanical specimens that evoke histories of extraction, displacement and resilience. Referencing Belgium’s exploitation of the Congo’s natural resources—from rubber and plantation agriculture to today’s industrial mining—Kamuanga draws compelling parallels between colonial violence and contemporary global supply chains. Integrated circuit patterns inscribed on his figures’ skin connect historical injustices to the minerals powering modern technologies, affirming heritage as a site of resistance and renewal.

Yacout Hamdouch presents Une haie de volubilis à Carvoeiro, (A hedge of morning glories in Carvoeiro), 2026, from her recent series, Poetic Landscapes. In these works, Hamdouch traces the process by which what she calls ‘mirages’ develop. Memory sculpts the mirage, which transforms into a landscape that becomes a window allowing us to frame in review those precious, transient moments. Her paintings are created by an exquisite layering technique, using gradually shifting colours and tones as a reflection of the gradations present in human experience. Her palette is informed by a contemporary interpretation of colours associated with the African continent. In Hamdouch’s work the past is never fixed; it is a live, shifting and deeply personal presence. This subtle yet profoundly introspective approach draws viewers inwards, encouraging questions of one’s own relationship to time, memory and experience as potentiated by these shared moments of recognition.

Booth S7 presents works by LR Vandy, Romuald Hazoumè and Alexis Peskine, each offering a distinct sculptural language grounded in storytelling and united by a bold, exploratory approach to materials. Following her acclaimed solo exhibition Rise at Yorkshire Sculpture Park, LR Vandy presents new and significant works from her celebrated rope figure series. Using rope and found materials, Vandy transforms a medium historically bound to architecture, maritime trade, colonialism and slavery into powerful sculptural expressions of resilience and liberation. Through binding, sewing and manipulation, her dynamic forms challenge the historical absence of the female body in abstraction while evoking the movements of dance, carnival masquerade, hunting rituals and spirit traditions across the African diaspora. Vandy’s practice reimagines material histories, celebrating collective joy, cultural memory and the enduring power of trans-formation.

Romuald Hazoumè uses sculptural forms as potent metaphors for African place, history, and identity. This presentation follows his inclusion as a major artist in Benin’s inaugural pavilion at the 60th Venice Biennale (2024) and coincides with his sixth solo exhibition at October Gallery. Since the mid-1980s, Hazoumè hasbeen widely recognised for his incisive masks and installations constructed from discarded plastic containers and petrol canisters. Through visually compelling assemblages Hazoumè work confronts both local and global issues, from political corruption in Africa to the environmental consequences of global consumption.

Alexis Peskine is represented by breathtaking mixed-media portraits that explore identity, resilience and the lived experiences of the African diaspora. Inspired by people he encounters during international artist resi-dencies, each work transforms personal connection into richly layered visual narratives. This emotional reso-nance—formed through connections between person, place and experience—is embedded within the materials he uses. Meticulously constructed from hand-hammered nails on stained wooden panels, the portraits are enhanced with gold, silver, palladium or Japanese oxidised leaf, creating luminous surfaces of remarkable depth. Referencing the spiritually charged Minkisi power figures of the Congo Basin, Peskine’s works combine natural pigments, such as coffee, earth, hibiscus, curcuma and sacred herbs to affirm presence, dignity and artistic freedom through a powerful and distinctive contemporary practice.