Written by Anastatia Nkhuna
It’s time to be whimsical again at RMB Latitudes Art Fair. Returning to Shepstone Gardens in Johannesburg from 23 – 25 May 2026 for its fourth edition, this year’s fair unfolds under the theme Oasis, a concept that feels especially resonant within a city constantly teaching its people how to create beauty despite exhaustion, instability, and the absence of ease. In many ways, Johannesburg itself becomes the metaphor: a place where creativity blooms anyway.
What makes RMB Latitudes feel so special is its ability to collapse the distance between viewer and artwork. The fair doesn’t operate like a cold white cube or a sterile marketplace. Instead, it feels cinematic. Alive. You move through gardens, staircases, conversations, textures, music, architecture, fashion, and artworks all at once. It becomes less about simply “viewing” art and more about experiencing culture in motion.
The fair subtly asks: what does refuge look like for African artists today?
Latitides understands that art does not exist in isolation from the people shaping contemporary culture around it. It lives in the atmosphere, in memory, in exchange, and in the energy shared between people occupying the same space at the same time.
Some of the booths I am especially excited to experience this year include artist Dada Khanyisa in the round room , whose sculptural paintings and assemblages beautifully capture everyday moments of youth culture, belonging, intimacy, and contemporary South African life. Their work feels playful yet deeply reflective, balancing humour, tenderness, and social observation in a way that feels incredibly current.
I am looking forward to spending more time with Veto Collective, a women-led collaborative practice emerging from the Wits School of Arts. Through painting, sculpture, installation, and printmaking, the collective unpacks the complexities of contemporary Black womanhood in South Africa. Founded by Sichumile Adam, Buqaqawuli Nobakada, and Chuma Adam, their work examines how women are perceived, consumed, and projected onto within public culture. Their recurring pig motif is particularly striking, functioning not as a reflection of the women depicted, but of the gaze imposed onto them, a powerful commentary on shame, objectification, and the politics of perception.
Another presentation comes through the fair’s Nigeria Focus programme, which places one of the continent’s most dynamic art ecosystems at the centre of the 2026 edition. Developed in partnership with Yenwa Gallery, the programme creates a cross-continental dialogue between Lagos and Johannesburg, foregrounding the importance of sustained African cultural exchange beyond borders.
And to encounter the work of Botswana-based painter Naledi Maifala, whose expressionist practice explores stillness, softness, and the fleeting nature of life. Rooted in the idea that “Just as petals fall, life too fades,” her paintings use colour, texture, and intimate imagery to create moments of emotional pause.
In a moment where so much of culture is consumed through screens, RMB Latitudes reminds us of the importance of physical gathering. Of walking through spaces slowly. Of looking longer. Of encountering art not as content, but as presence.
One of the spaces I am especially excited to visit this year is the Nike Air Max Residency booth. Merging Art , Fashion and Music under the manifesto of air.
I am equally looking forward to move through booths by Ebony Curated, Stevenson, David Krut Projects, KUMALO | TURPIN, and Occupying the Gallery, galleries that continue to shape some of the most exciting conversations around contemporary African art, design, materiality, and emerging practice today. Additions like the Curatorial Edge presenting Koos , Performing HUMANISM, A mixed media solo show and other small awkward interactions & Design Week who will be presenting four dedicated design spaces featuring over 25 African brands is also on my list.
Part of the beauty of RMB Latitudes is exactly this: encountering vastly different artistic languages, generations, and perspectives all within the same space.
I hope my buzz convinces you to get your ticket.
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