Tiwani Contemporary, one of the few highly visible European galleries with a stated focus on the African diaspora, will close after 15 years, bringing to an end an ambitious run that helped elevate artists such as Joy Labinjo and Emma Prempeh to star status.
It is merely the latest gallery in a succession of commercial art spaces to shutter in the past few years, a trend that has aroused anxiety about the state of the market from some observers. Yet most of those shuttered spaces have been based in New York; Tiwani Contemporary, by contrast, is based in London.
The gallery was founded by Maria Varnava in 2011, and has operated a space in Lagos alongside its London base since 2022. Tiwani Contemporary relocated its current London headquarters to Mayfair, the city’s central district for blue-chip galleries, in 2023.
In a statement posted to Instagram, Varnava attributed the gallery’s closure to the conditions of the market.
“Sadly, the current economic climate and the shifting landscape of the London art market no longer support our business model,” Varnava wrote. “The decision to wind down our activity is extremely painful, but it is a responsible step to address the financial challenges the gallery faces in a difficult market.”
Varnava said that London gallery’s last day would be today, and that the Lagos gallery would “cease operations in its current format to allow for restructuring in the months ahead.”
The gallery gained a reputation for bringing African diasporic artists to the attention to the British art scene, whose commercial galleries have not always paid enough attention to painters, sculptors, and photographers with ties to the continent.
Theo Eshetu, a British Ethiopian artist currently featured in the Venice Biennale, had three exhibitions with the gallery, while Zina Saro-Wiwa, a celebrated photographer born in Nigeria and based in New York, had one solo show with Tiwani Contemporary in an addition to another exhibition that she curated.
Tiwani Contemporary also demonstrated a forward-thinking eye that allowed its directors to spot rising talents before they hit it big. Njideka Akunyili Crosby and Simone Leigh were the subject of a two-person show in 2013, well before either artist was well-known; British artist Barbara Walker had a solo show that same year, roughly a decade before she was nominated for the Turner Prize; and Haitian painter Manuel Mathieu had one of his first significant gallery shows in 2017, nine years before he appeared in the current Biennale.
Also among those to have shown at the gallery are Maren Hassinger, Virginia Chihota, Penny Siopis, Michaela Yearwood-Dan, Dawit L. Petros, and Pamela Phatismo Sunstrum.
“Fifteen years ago, I co-founded Tiwani Contemporary with a commitment to broadening international dialogue around art from Africa and the diaspora,” Varnava said in her statement. “Since then it has been an immense privilege to work with so many wonderful artists, and help to amplify their vital and extraordinary voices. Their impact will only continue to grow.”
Tiwani Contemporary is the second major London gallery to close in the past year. Stephen Friedman Gallery shuttered in February after going into administration. It had already closed its New York outpost in 2025.
