Looking at Alexander James’s latest work, one provocation lingers: his audacious return to the “square” in 2026.

The global creative economy is currently growing at a rapid pace and undergoing significant restructuring. At the center of this shift is a deliberate, intentional effort to reposition Africa from a mere participant to a primary stakeholder. Entertainment Week Africa (EWA) is leaning fully into, and owning, this moment. With the launch of EWA Creative Connect, the platform is moving beyond celebration to design a space where talent gains access to capital, ideas receive the infrastructure...

Ayoola Gbolahan is not one to hurry meaning along. He allows his ideas to settle first, much like his canvases which are layered, deliberate, and resistant to quick interpretation. His paintings have a way of stopping people mid-step at exhibitions, carrying something unplaceable with symbols which feel both ancient and invented. His figures seem to exist between worlds rather than within them. Portrait Photograph of Ayoola Gbolahan. For anyone paying attention to the sharper edge of...