Launch of the First African Art Gallery Aggregator – Aworanka
The first African Art Gallery Aggregator, Aworanka has been launched with ten Nigerian galleries representing over two hundred and fifty artists. The platform will expand to include new Nigerian and African galleries in the coming months.
African arts have gained an overwhelming recognition over the past few years, and has reached new records in prices. In 2018, the Nigerian artworks ‘Tutu;’ by Ben Enwonwu and ‘Bush Babies’ by Njideka Akunyili Crosby reached the prices of $1,68 million and $3,41 million at Bonhams and Sotheby’s auctions respectively.
However, following the disparity between the international auction prices and the amount received by artists, founder of Aworanka, Ana Acha, who is also co-founder of the Nigerian magazine, Malimbe (the in-flight magazine of four Nigerian airlines) disclosed that the main objective of the art gallery is to support the development of the African art industry and to provide value to galleries and artists so that they can gain access to international markets and receive worthy prices for their works.
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Since creating an online database and selling online seems to be an expensive process, Aworanka aims to minimize those costs by supporting different galleries at the same time. Ana Acha noted that galleries don’t have to pay for the subscription, rather, a fee will be attached whenever an artwork is sold.
Currently, Aworanka has a database of over one hundred biographies of African artists online and have progressed by publishing interviews which will be launched in their 2021 reports. Aworanka is open to collaborating with valuable institutions and organisations of like mind in order to promote African arts all over the world.
Aworanka reviews the conditions and authenticity of every artwork, handles all the export documentation and has further partnered with DHL to establish shipping by integrating their system into Aworanka’s platform. Aworanka has further enabled secure payment gateways into the website with SSL (Secure Socket Layer) and 3D Secure encryption methods. Buyers on Aworanka will benefit from the security and transparency processes established by the marketplace.
Although, already the first established marketplace for African art, Aworanka aims to be the primary source of information for collectors, investors, scholars and art enthusiasts.
Monthly, Aworanka will partner with new galleries to offer various artworks and artists in creative fields of painting, sculpture, prints and photography. Artworks will be the original inspiration and works of African artists.
African-based galleries can apply to join Aworanka’s community on www.aworanka.com