If you followed the winding stone pathways of Johannesburg’s Shepstone Gardens this May, you may have stumbled upon not just an art fair but a sensorial opera. Framed by rustling leaves, Neapolitan crusts, Aperol spritzes, and the faint hum of gallery chatter, the RMB Latitudes Art Fair returned for its third act with a clear declaration: Home is where the art is. Not just in the static white walls of traditional spaces, but in gardens, glass marquees, and wherever memory, creativity, and collaboration decide to bloom.
Curated by the fiercely visionary duo Lucy MacGarry and Roberta Coci, Latitudes has evolved from a physical fair to a pulsating hub of African contemporary art, mentorship, and design. But this year’s edition, with 70 exhibitors, over 300 artists, and roughly 10,000 visitors, was a grandeur showcase of scale.
“We’re absolutely thrilled with the energy and success of RMB Latitudes 2025, which truly felt like a vibrant celebration,” says Lucy MacGarry, co-founder and director. “What I’m most proud of is the extraordinary diversity we achieved, both in our audience and in the art itself. This year’s theme of Co-Production is a nod to the Fair’s central ethos of working collaboratively with and connecting all players in the art industry.” Speaking to the fair’s broader mission, she adds, “Connection, collaboration, and growth are truly at the heart of our ‘CO-PRODUCTION’ theme this year,” noting that this year’s Botswana Focus was “a focused effort to deepen cross-border connections and amplify critical voices, contributing to sustainable arts infrastructure in the region, rather than just ‘discovering’ a new voice, but asserting one.” She highlights that, “Through these strategic evolutions, from multi-sectoral networking to focused regional spotlights and cross-disciplinary partnerships, we are actively building bridges between Africa and the world, strengthening relationships, and creating sustainable growth opportunities for the entire continental arts ecosystem.” From powerhouse names like Southern Guild and Stevenson to newer voices from Nigeria’s AMG Projects, and Botswana’s ascendant art scene, the fair radiated a curatorial generosity rarely matched on the continent.
This year’s International Galleries Platform took a deliberate detour into the cultural terrain of Botswana, a nation whose art scene is often left lurking in the shadow of its regional cousins. Curated by Boitumelo Makousu, the Botswana Focus was an excavation of ideological borders, identity, and inherited visual codes.
“The benefit of focusing on one locale,” says Makousu, “allows for a deeper exploration of the nation’s cultural practice and artistic ecosystem.”
From the archival tact of Ora Loapi to the abstract celestial musings of the TBP Artist Collective, the presentation wove together personal history and national narrative. Yet it was Katlego Twala’s work, presented by Banana Club, that left a particular hush in the air.
Rendered in classical realism, Twala’s work unspooled the intimate bond between mother and son in a Botswana household. Each canvas pausing time like a held breath. Developed during her Banana Club residency, these paintings invited viewers to consider how memory, family structure, and upbringing influence the emotional formation of Black men. Laced with photographic stillness and layered sensitivity, it was portraiture that whispered rather than shouted and still managed to echo long after.
In a move that blurred the lines between the gallery and the atelier, Latitudes joined forces with Design Week South Africa to present a Design Showcase a debut collaboration that added serious texture to the experience. Brands like Pichulik, Merchants on Long, and Viviers stood alongside visionary labels such as Art School Africa, Guillotine by Lisa Jaffe, and kkerelé, turning the gardens into a living moodboard.
But nothing commanded space and imagination quite like Mary Sibande’s “A Queen Never Dies” at the Usurpa booth. Her beloved character Sophie suspended mid-air in a new sculptural installation was clothed in a majestic outfit designed by fashion royalty Palesa Mokubong. With grand silhouettes and textured patterns, the installation was a holographic sermon on legacy, power, and the absurd permanence of royalty. Sophie, ever the ghost and queen, soared literally and symbolically.
At BKhz’s booth, artist Thando Salman hijacked traditional portraiture with a curious cast of men, dressed in childlike pajamas, embarking on a mysterious journey through nature. It was bizarre, poetic, and potentially mythic. Were they seeking their manhood? Evading it? The suited man who refused the transformation met a grim fate a quiet nod, perhaps, to initiation rituals, or the fatal rigidity of masculinity.
Other standout exhibitors included David Krut Art Gallery, First Floor Gallery, Gallery Momo, The Project Room, and FEDE Art Space, each contributing to the intricate mosaic of African visual narrative. Untitled Gallery from Cape Town walked away with the Lexus Best Stand Award for Running Parallel, a solo presentation by Guy Simpson that made peeling walls and skirting boards somehow magnetic. The banal became sublime, proof that good curation can turn drywall into desire.
Beyond the spectacle, RMB Latitudes proves it is a growth platform, nurturing not just talent, but infrastructure. From the RMB Talent Unlocked programme, which showcased 50 new artists, to INDEX, curated by Bonolo Kavula, and the CuratorLab mentorship initiative, every corridor of the fair hummed with future-making.
Even the children were not left behind. The Kids Area, designed by the Imbali Visual Literacy Project, doubled as an artistic incubator and a soft refuge a delightful space of beading, weaving, and pebble-painting. As children decorated ceramic portrait heads, Emely van Heesch adorned them with floral crowns, embodying the fair’s commitment to cultivating creativity at all ages.
Coalition’s blistered pizza. Awari’s hydrating charm. Haute Cabrière’s bubbles. You could call it a lifestyle event, and you’d be right. But RMB Latitudes is more than an art fair with good catering. It’s a reimagining of how art can be experienced in Africa lived, breathed, digested with olives and gelato.
And so, under Joburg’s crisp skies, where both flowers and talent bloomed, home is indeed where the art is.
RMB Latitudes Art Fair Moments
