Artist to follow in 2025

Lenio Kaklea, an Athens-born choreographer, dancer, and writer based in Paris, is known for redefining the boundaries of dance, performance, and cultural expression. Trained in classical ballet and contemporary techniques, including the works of Graham, Cunningham, and Limon, she furthered her studies at CNDC in Angers and completed the SPEAP program under Bruno Latour at Sciences Po. Kaklea’s multidisciplinary approach integrates choreography, text, and video, drawing from feminism and postcolonial theory to examine how movements and gestures shape identity and subjectivity.

Kaklea has collaborated with leading figures in European dance, such as Boris Charmatz and Alexandra Bachzetsis, and her performances have been showcased at prominent venues including Centre Pompidou, documenta 14, and the Athens Epidaurus Festival. Her work is featured in esteemed public and private collections, including CNAP and the KADIST Foundation, cementing her reputation as a bold and innovative voice in contemporary dance.

Grada Kilomba is a Portuguese artist, writer, and scholar whose work masterfully interweaves themes of race, trauma, memory, and colonialism. Based in Berlin, she merges academic theory with artistic practice, using performance, video, installation, and storytelling to confront legacies of oppression and reclaim silenced narratives. Drawing from psychoanalysis, African oral traditions, and postcolonial theory, Kilomba’s works offer a profound exploration of identity and the politics of representation.

Her signature practice of storytelling transforms her writings into visceral artistic experiences, asking urgent questions: “What stories are told? How are they told? And by whom?” These inquiries drive her poetic yet subversive creations, which address racism, gender violence, and historical trauma with deeply personal resonance.

Kilomba’s work has been featured in leading international exhibitions, including documenta 14, the 32nd Bienal de São Paulo, and the Berlin Biennale. Recent solo exhibitions include presentations at the Museum Reina Sofia, Kunsthaus Graz, and Haus der Kulturen der Welt. Her pieces are also held in prestigious collections such as the Tate Modern, Gulbenkian Modern Collection, and the Hammer Museum.

A thought-provoking voice in contemporary art, Kilomba continues to challenge and expand the boundaries of art and activism, creating space for marginalized perspectives to be seen and heard.

Shadi Al-Atallah is a Saudi Arabian multidisciplinary artist based in London, celebrated for their large-scale figurative paintings that explore themes of identity, spirituality, and personal transformation. A graduate of Camberwell College of Arts with a BA in Illustration, Al-Atallah draws inspiration from their childhood in Saudi Arabia, spiritual practices, and family history, as well as influences from the Queer ballroom scene and African diasporic folkloric dance.

Their dark, dynamic self-portraits depict distorted, expressive figures, serving as both personal reflections and explorations of broader cultural narratives. Al-Atallah’s process is intuitive and fast-paced, capturing the fleeting, liminal space between the mundane and the spiritual in each work. Painting, for them, is a way to transcend the constraints of language, allowing the creation of genderless figures that embrace ambiguity and invite deeper interpretation.

This enigmatic quality of their work encourages viewers to forge their own connections, turning each painting into a personal, almost ritualistic experience. By weaving performativity and catharsis into their art, Al-Atallah creates emotionally charged pieces that challenge and expand the boundaries of contemporary figurative painting.

Ambera Wellmann is a Nova Scotia-born, New York-based artist celebrated for her surreal and provocative paintings that challenge traditional notions of beauty and the human form. Her work blends abstract and figurative elements, creating distorted, dreamlike depictions that explore themes of identity, sensuality, and the subconscious. Wellmann’s paintings often incorporate vivid colors, rich textures, and layered compositions, reflecting her fascination with the boundaries between human and animal forms, the known and the uncanny.

Drawing from diverse influences such as art history, folklore, digital media, and everyday life, her pieces push viewers to question perceptions of the body, gender, and desire. Her process embraces chance and erasure, producing works that feel intimate yet otherworldly, inviting audiences to connect personally with their ambiguity. Wellmann has exhibited internationally, with major works featured at venues such as the New Museum in New York, Palazzo Bollani in Venice, and Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo in Turin.

Through her fearless exploration of vulnerability and transformation, Wellmann continues to expand the language of contemporary figurative art, crafting immersive visual experiences that defy categorization.

Marie-Claire Messouma Manlanbien is a visionary artist whose work bridges cultures, generations, and materials, blending the natural and industrial, the precious and the everyday to elevate the ordinary. Her pieces, often resembling maps or protective totems, embody sacred relics that shelter organic materials like horsehair and strands of hair, arranged to evoke presence and emotion. Through these works, Messouma explores what cannot be seen, weaving fluid, symbolic representations of the body and its essence beyond figuration. The materials she uses—raffia, clay, aluminum, and hair—engage the senses, inviting viewers to touch, interpret, and uncover hidden meanings.

With a background from the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Cergy, Messouma has cultivated a multifaceted, sensitive artistic practice. Through her explorations of femininity, identity, and the body, her work intersects her Caribbean and West African heritage, offering a poetic and profound narrative of connection and transformation.

Adrian Ghenie is a rising star in contemporary painting, acclaimed for his ability to merge the personal, political, and art historical into a captivating blend of abstract and figurative forms. His work pushes the boundaries of painting, not only exploring its possibilities but also weaving together grand historical themes with modern influences. Drawing from personal memories, art history, cinematic imagery, and digital culture, Ghenie transforms these diverse inspirations into layered, emotionally resonant compositions that signal his emergence as a defining voice in the art world.

His creative process often begins with collage, where composite images are assembled and then translated onto canvas using a palette knife, resulting in richly textured surfaces. In recent works, Ghenie has expanded his approach, employing an innovative drawing technique that involves erasing and reapplying charcoal to craft intricate, multidimensional images. These drawings serve as the foundation for his paintings, where thin brushstrokes articulate his deconstructed visual language.

Ghenie’s work frequently references iconic figures and artistic predecessors, such as Otto Dix, Willem de Kooning, and Vincent van Gogh, while engaging with themes of history, memory, and the subconscious. His pieces often depict haunting interiors and cinematic vignettes that evoke both collective and individual experiences.

Alicja Kwade is internationally renowned for her sculptures, large-scale installations, films, photography, and works on paper that probe scientific and philosophical concepts by challenging the limits of perception. Her unique artistic approach employs reflection, repetition, and the transformation of everyday objects and natural materials to delve into the essence of reality and question societal structures. Infused with a sense of the absurd, her work dismantles familiar systems, reframing commonly accepted ideas into open-ended inquiries.

Through poetic and thought-provoking creations, Kwade invites viewers to confront the mysteries of existence and reconsider the frameworks that shape our understanding of the world. Her installations often juxtapose contrasting materials and forms, creating mesmerizing spaces where the boundaries between reality and illusion blur. By reimagining ordinary items into extraordinary arrangements, she evokes a sense of wonder and curiosity about the unknown. Alicja Kwade’s oeuvre stands as a dynamic exploration of perception, offering new pathways to interpret the complexities of human experience.

Chicago-born architect Germane Barnes examines the relationship between identity and the built environment through a blend of research, design, and activism. His work delves into the social and political dimensions of architecture, exploring how the built environment shapes Black domesticity and the broader narratives of self-determination. As the Director of Studio Barnes, he leads a practice dedicated to investigating these connections, using architecture as a lens to uncover hidden spatial histories and envision new futures.

Barnes’ innovative contributions have been featured in prestigious international institutions, including The Museum of Modern Art, the Venice Biennale, The Art Institute of Chicago, and The National Museum of African American History, where he was recognized as a designer to watch. His projects often merge storytelling and design, presenting architecture as both a cultural artifact and a tool for social change. From exhibitions at Design Miami/Art Basel to features in publications like The New York Times and Architect Magazine, his work has garnered widespread acclaim. Barnes continues to redefine the role of architecture, emphasizing its power to reflect and reshape the identities and communities it serves.

George Rouy is a contemporary British artist renowned for his vibrant, emotionally charged paintings that delve into themes of identity, emotion, and the human experience. His distinctive style blends abstract and figurative elements, creating a unique visual language that invites viewers into complex, often unsettling narratives. With bold colors and dynamic brushwork, Rouy explores the nuances of personal and collective identity, making him a standout figure in modern art. His work is deeply connected to the human figure, confronting themes of desire, alienation, and crisis in a globalized, technology-driven world.

Rouy’s art speaks to the extremes of contemporary life, transforming the body into a vessel for flux, transformation, and subversive energy. From unified forms with minimal yet powerful symbolism to gestural, androgynous figures charged with intense color and abstraction, his work continuously explores the boundaries between the self, the mask, and the shadow. His paintings dissolve the boundaries between internal and external worlds, creating a singular, fluid experience of the human figure, moving in and out of space, time, and identity.

Giles Tettey Nartey is a British-Ghanaian multidisciplinary artist and architect whose work spans filmmaking, installation, performance, and object design, with a focus on the intersection of material cultures, craft, and ritual. His research-driven practice explores how these elements shape identity and experience, often blending designed objects with found and archival materials to create a rich dialogue around cultural narratives and histories. Born in South London and raised in Accra, Ghana, Nartey’s early exposure to informal architecture and everyday practices in Labadi continues to influence his work today.

Nartey’s academic background, with studies at Politecnico di Milano and the Bartlett School of Architecture, has deeply informed his artistic approach, and he is dedicated to merging research, teaching, and design in his practice. As an Associate Professor at the Bartlett and co-leader of a diploma unit at the Architectural Association School of Architecture, he fosters a new generation of designers. Nartey also contributes to the academic world through his role on the steering committee for the UCL Africa Research Centre and as a visiting critic at the African Futures Institute.

His work pushes boundaries by blending academic insight with artistic innovation, making a significant impact both in the classroom and in his creative endeavors.