The Harmattan Festival was born from a desire to explore how photography can become a tool for rethinking the African imagination, building new connections between past and future, between cultural roots and a burgeoning art scene.
Each image is an act of storytelling. Each image becomes a story projected into the future, a fragment of reality that stands in opposition to the present moment to assert a new visual identity.
What story do we want to tell? What narratives express the creative urgency of the contemporary African art scene?
From December 12 to 14, 2025, Lomé becomes the stage for a new visual dialogue about the contemporary identity of West Africa. The festival’s opening weekend features three group exhibitions bringing together fifteen Togolese and international artists, hosted at Agnassan – Musée Paul Ahyi, Galerie Artemis, and Jardin Edith Equagoo, accompanied by masterclasses and workshops in the enchanting setting of the Palais de Lomé. The exhibitions will remain open until December 30, 2025.
The project extends beyond the Togolese days. Starting in 2026, the selected works will become a traveling exhibition in various formats: first in Lugano/Paradiso (Switzerland), at Focus Artphilein (February–April 2026), then in Milan (Italy), at Loro Milano (May 2026).
A publication edited by Artphilein Editions and Boîte Editions will bring together the works and critical essays, offering international visibility to the participating artists.
For centuries, the representation of Africa had been filtered through a colonial lens, transforming the other into an object and silencing its voice. Today, a new generation of African curators, artists, and thinkers has overturned this perspective, bringing photography back to the forefront as an autonomous language capable of influencing the worlds of contemporary art, fashion, and architecture.
As curator and art historian Osei Bonsu states, “Photography is not just a tool for documenting reality; it has the potential to liberate storytellers and empower artists to reimagine the world from the ground up.” This narrative and visionary potential lies at the heart of the festival’s curatorial approach, which celebrates photography’s capacity to create new visual narratives by weaving together personal experiences, collective memory, and invisible lineages.
Artists exhibited
Tessilim Adjayi – Togo
Parmenas Awudza – Togo
Delali Ayivi – Togo / U.K.
Zododo Ekue & Elise Beltz – Togo / France
Fo Kwesi – Togo
Lina Mensh – Togo
Ras Sankara Agboka and Ilona Rjiba & Antoine Pelletier – Togo / France
Koffi Seble – Togo
Enok Tsevi – Togo
Wody Yawo – Togo
Kadessi Alassani & Ana Veronica – Togo / Colombia / U.K.
David Nana O. Ansah – Ghana
Ishola Akpo – Benin
Malick Welli & Charlotte Brathwaite – Senegal / USA
Federica Landi – Italia
Nicola Lo Calzo – Italy / France
FOUNDING DIRECTORS
Ako Atikossie and Giulia Brivio – Togo / Italia
Information
• Weekend Opening: December 12–14, 2025
• Exhibitions open until December 30, 2025
• Exhibition venues: Agnassan – Paul Ahyi Museum, Artemis Gallery, Edith Equagoo Garden (Lomé)
• Public program venues: Lomé Palace, Paul Ahyi Museum
• Public events:
– Saturday, December 12: Masterclass with Ishola Akpo and Nicola Lo Calzo; cyanotype workshop with Federica Landi
– Sunday, December 13: Roundtable discussion on the Togolese art scene
– Friday, December 19: Ras Sankara Agboka performance at La Case des Daltons
• Official catalog: Artphilein Editions & Boîte Editions (April 2026)
• Traveling exhibition:
– Lugano/Paradiso, Focus Artphilein (February–April 2026)
– Milan, Loro Milano (May 2026)
