2026-10-23 23:15:23
From the markets of Dakar and Lagos to the sidewalks of Abidjan and the Beherawi neighborhood of Addis Abab, a bold new book by Nadine Barth and Azu Nwagbogu travels from country to country to present a vast portrait of life on the continent. Street Photography Africa compiles hundreds of images from 33 photographers who each turn their lens to public spaces, documenting cultural moments with musicians and dancers alongside more everyday fashions and routines. While vast in scope, location, and style, the nearly 300-page survey is connected by the central premise that “the street becomes a stage.”
Street Photography Africa is out this month from Thames & Hudson. Find your copy on Bookshop.
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2026-10-23 03:12:03
In 1963, following nearly 70 years of British colonial rule, Kenya declared independence. The nation was not alone on the African continent; in the 1960s, Gambia, Guyana, Malawi, Nigeria, and others freed themselves from Britain’s control in a watershed period of democratic redevelopment and socio-cultural shifts. Wangari Mathenge, who was born in Nairobi, looks to the not-so-distant past in an ongoing series of vivid oil paintings.
Many of the works shown here are part of the artist’s current solo exhibition, Re-membering at Lévy Gorvy Dayan. Inspired in part by scholar Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o’s 2009 book Something Torn and New: An African Renaissance, Mathenge examines her own cultural identity through the lens of Kenya in the first half of the 20th century. Something Torn and New focuses on the long-lasting impacts of colonialism and slavery in Africa.
The artist’s recent work depicts herself as all of the women, who each interact in domestic spaces. Toys, books, maps, and the occasional uncanny scenario, such as the green ladder in the wall of “Re-membering XI (To Leave This Steady Unendurable Land),” nod to a period of significant change in Africa. The figures often play with or alter the items in front of them, such as documenting a transatlantic vessel or jostling a teddy bear in an activity that blurs gutting and mending.
Sometimes, Mathenge’s protagonists meet the viewer’s gaze directly, almost confrontationally, while in other settings, she or he relaxes amid an array of items. Through the lens of cultural memory, the artist gathers symbols of resistance and healing. The compositions are sometimes paradoxical in their depictions of toys and nostalgic items with an underlying tension, like “Re-membering XIII (May the Wind Be Always at Your Back)” in which one of the figures readies an arrow in a bow.
“Re-membering signifies not merely the act of recall, but the active gathering and reassembly of what has been fragmented: cultural memory, inherited forms, histories, and ways of seeing,” the artist says in a statement. The exhibition continues through October 24 in New York. See more on Mathenge’s Instagram.
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2026-10-22 22:12:43
In Fustat, a historic district of Cairo that was once the ancient Islamic capital of Egypt and a major trading center, centuries-old pottery known as Fustat ware has been excavated throughout the area. Typically featuring a luster glaze in a wide range of hues to produce an iridescent effect, the surfaces were sometimes incised with designs. For artist Ibrahim Said, who was born in Old Cairo and grew up observing the ceramics industry in the dozens of workshops comprising the area’s Pottery Village, past meets present in richly ornamented sculptures.
The artist’s new solo exhibition, Shaping Time at Yossi Milo, delves into traditional craft with a contemporary twist. Said recently completed the inaugural Metropolitan Museum of Art and Vacheron Constantin Artisan Residency, which granted the artist access to The Met’s collection over an 18-month period and influenced this new body of work.
Said considers time “not as a fixed progression from past to future, but as a layered condition in which histories and imagined futures continually overlap,” the gallery says. Drawing on Islamic and ancient Egyptian art, the artist expands up on the definition of a vessel, creating ceramic bodies linked by concave pillars or curved bands in a dualistic dance.
In addition to time, Said explores traditions associated with life after death and relationships between the permanent and the ephemeral. The precision with which he approaches symmetry and layers the sculptures with patterns such as latticework also serves as a reminder of passing time in the inherently labor-intensive process. The gallery says, “His works look backward and forward simultaneously, treating time as material, and suggesting that shaping an object is also a way of shaping our relationship to time.”
Shaping Time opens today and continues through January 9 in New York. See more on the artist’s Instagram.
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2026-10-22 02:21:45
Bondi Beach, a neighborhood east of central Sydney, is about as iconic a surf spot as they come. Its eponymous crescent beach glows with golden sand, and its cliffs frame stunning scenery. In December 2025, it was also the site of a tragic terrorist attack, when two men opened fire on a Hanukkah celebration, killing 15 people. (Gun deaths, let alone mass shootings, are exceedingly rare in Australia, especially compared to the U.S.) At Bondi, heroism and a sense of community converged in its beautiful setting, reinforcing pride of place. And it’s again home, at least temporarily, to “the world’s largest free to the public sculpture exhibition.”
Sculpture by the Sea organizes an annual outdoor presentation of dozens of sculptures every year along a 1.25-mile stretch of coastline, highlighting work by artists from around the world. Styles and materials vary greatly, from geometric abstraction to myriad representational forms. Emma Anna’s “DREAM_N” resembles a giant Scrabble letter rack, while Andre Braun’s “Surface Breach” depicts a giant hand breaking free from the earth.
The show remains on view through November 2. Explore past editions and watch a video of sculptures from last year’s exhibition below. See more on Instagram.
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2026-10-21 23:32:34
Anyone who has driven Interstate 25 between Denver and Colorado Springs knows that traffic can get… hairy. And it’s not just drivers whose safety is at risk, as animals like elk, bears, coyotes, and more also need to use the highway to access 39,000 acres of habitat. Cars and pronghorns just aren’t compatible. That’s why Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) set out to build a wildlife-only bridge, the largest of its kind currently in North America, which it completed in December 2025. Within the first nine months since its opening, wildlife-vehicle collisions were already down a whopping 91 percent.
Before the crossing opened, dozens of animals were killed by vehicles every year, often up to one per day during migration seasons. The overpass spans I-25’s six lanes and is completely covered in grass so that critters have uninterrupted access to habitat on both sides of the highway—and drivers face less risk and expense due to collisions. The project is one of several in progress across the U.S., including a handful more in Colorado that include underpasses and smaller bridges. Brandon Marette, a wildlife biologist with Colorado Parks and Wildlife, told CBS News, “One of the most heartwarming moments for me was when CDOT sent me a picture of an elk mama taking her calf under I-25.”
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2026-10-21 06:15:39
Nested in a natural lava cave in Mexico City’s Pedregal de San Ángel region, a sprawling, mosaic-laden domicile was once home to Juan and Helen Fowler O’Gorman, an architect and artist, respectively. The pair designed the icon of modernist Mexican architecture, called Casa Cueva, in 1954, although it was largely destroyed after the couple sold the home in 1969.
At Museo Jumex, Álvaro Urbano presents an homage to the innovations of Casa Cueva, drawing on its gardens and the legacy that Helen left behind, particularly through her 1961 book titled Mexican Flowering Trees and Plants. Written and illustrated while she lived at Casa Cueva, the rich volume documented a variety of the region’s native specimens. For Urbano, these vegetal renderings became the basis of a new body of metal sculptures.
The artist’s solo exhibition, Helen, suspends his signature painted plants in a delicate arrangement. Floating against a diaphanous curtain, the lifelike sculptures appear almost as apparitions, hovering in mid-air to guide viewers through the dreamy space.
Each specimen is based off of one that appeared in Helen’s book, and a site-specific installation reveals variegated stone amid a floor of square pavers. Like Casa Cueva, the exhibition unfolds organically, creating a continual dialogue between space, plants, and those able to witness both.
Helen is on view through February 7. Explore more of Urbano’s work on Instagram
Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article Álvaro Urbano Honors the Lost Specimens of Mexico City’s Iconic Casa Cueva appeared first on Colossal.