The African Artists’ Foundation (AAF) is gearing up for Nsi: After the Harvest, bringing the first public presentation of the art collection assembled by Congolese plantation workers’ collective CATPC to Lagos.

An art collection rooted in land and community at the centre of Nsi is CATPC’s work in Lusanga, Democratic Republic of the Congo, where artistic production is connected to the reclamation of former plantation land and its transformation into community-owned forests and food gardens.

The collective’s practice asks who owns art, who benefits from its value, and how that value can support the communities and landscapes from which wealth has historically been extracted.

The show starting on October 5, 2026, at the African Artists’ Foundation, 3B Isiola Oyekan Close, off Adeleke Adedoyin Street, Victoria Island, Lagos, it will run until November 22, 2026.

Nsi: After the Harvest will examine how histories of plantation labour and resource extraction continue to shape land, livelihoods and culture, and how artistic production can contribute to restitution and ecological recovery.

Presented in partnership with the Cercle d’Art des Travailleurs de Plantation Congolaise (CATPC) and Human Activities, the Lagos exhibition is curated by Nkhensani Mkhari, with
Azu Nwagbogu as project advisor.

It forms part of AAF’s Dig Where You Stand programme and will be accompanied by a public symposium at the J. Randle Centre for Yorùbá Culture & History, Onikan, Lagos on Thursday, October, 8, 2026 followed by film and After Hours programming on Friday, October 9, 2026.

The public opening will take place at on Monday, October 5, 2026 at African Artists’ Foundation, 3B Isiola Oyekan Close, off Adeleke Adedoyin Street, Victoria Island, Lagos.

According to the organizers, the exhibition and public programmes are free and open to the public.
The collection assembled by CATPC includes works by Marlene Dumas, Olafur Eliasson, Luc Tuymans, Chéri Samba, Francis Alÿs, Jan Dibbets, Lydia Ourahmane and Christopher Kulendran Thomas.

Its public presentation in Lagos places a collection owned by plantation workers at the centre of a conversation about the relationships between museums, cultural wealth and plantation economies.

The Lagos exhibition will also bring together CATPC and artists Patrick Bongoy, Maurice Mbikayi, Wonder Buhle Mbambo, Sandra Mujinga,Gerald Chukwuma, Uche Uzorka, Odili Donald Odita, Luke Agada, Ozuma Patrick Chidiebube, Emma Odumade and Ntshepe Tsekere Bopape, known as Mo Laudi. The title draws on Nsi, a Kikongo word referring to land, earth and the realm of the ancestors. After the Harvest asks what remains when resources have been removed and labour expended: the effects on bodies and landscapes, the histories carried by materials, and the responsibilities that continue after extraction.

Four interconnected themes organise the exhibition. Sediment considers the histories accumulated in land and memory; Signal examines how voices and claims travel across distance; Residue addresses the material and social consequences of extraction; and Repair considers the practical work of restoration. Together, they frame restitution as a question of land, ownership, livelihoods and cultural authority, as well as the return of objects.

The single-day symposium on October 8, 2026 will bring artists, cultural practitioners and audiences into conversation on land, heritage, extraction and ecological repair, with sessions on Sediment, Residue and Repair.

Founder and Artistic Director of AAF, Azu Nwagbogu, will deliver the opening remarks, followed by a curatorial address by Nkhensani Mkhari. Artist Renzo Martens will deliver the keynote, “What’s Up with This Renzo Martens?

Attempting to Connect Museums to the Plantations That Funded Them (2010–2026).

His presentation will examine the relationship between Western art institutions and plantation wealth through his practice and long-term engagement with CATPC, followed by discussion and audience questions.

CATPC representatives Céd’art Tamasala and Matthieu Kasiama will lead a dedicated presentation, “The Collection That Regrows the Sacred Forest”, exploring the collective’s ownership of an art collection and its relationship to land and forest restoration in Lusanga.

The Sediment conversation will bring Dr. Oluwatoyin Zainab Sogbesan and Enotie Ogbebor together to discuss land, heritage, memory and restitution, moderated by Sapphire Ikoghene Favour Kehinde.

Ozuma Patrick Chidiebube will lead the Residue session on bodies, materials and waste.

The Repair panel will feature Jelili Atiku, Céd’art Tamasala and Matthieu Kasiama, moderated by Nkhensani Mkhari.

A spoken-word performance by Isidinma Nnamdi will connect the day’s discussions with poetry.
The programme will move into film, sound and informal exchange on Friday, October 9, 2026. A screening of Sammy Baloji’s The Tree of Authenticity (2025) at African Artists’ Foundation, Victoria Island, will extend the exhibition’s consideration of colonial scientific research, ecology and extraction in the Congo.

After Hours at AAF is planned as an evening of music, performance and exchange among artists, speakers and the Lagos creative community.

Screening and evening programme times, and the final performance lineup, will be announced separately.
Nsi: After the Harvest will also have a Dakar chapter at Malidoma Popenguine, Senegal, from now November 22, 2026 to December 19, 2026, within the Dak’Art Biennale Off programme.

Co-curated by Nkhensani Mkhari, Charlotte Brathwaite and Malick Welli, and developed and presented with Malidoma Popenguine, the Dakar chapter will have its own artist selection. It extends the project’s exchange across African contexts while retaining a distinct curatorialand local focus.