About Qhakaza
A Private Gateway into African Art
Founded on the belief that collectors deserve serious intelligence: structured, honest, and culturally rooted
Our Mission
To build a private culture of African art collecting that offers global collectors a composed, well-prepared route into the work, and in doing so helps lift Africa's share of the global art market toward 5% by 2035
African art has produced some of the most important work of the last three decades. Its underrepresentation is not a question of quality, but of infrastructure: consistent documentation, clear pricing context, independent credibility signals, and a collector-facing culture that supports long-term commitment rather than short-term attention
This membership is designed to sit alongside galleries, advisors and institutions as a quiet, structured layer that makes it easier for capital, connoisseurship and time to move into African art with confidence
The story
For years, Africa has accounted for less than one percent of the global art market, despite producing some of the most urgent and inventive work of the last few decades. The imbalance was not about a lack of artists or ideas. It was about the absence of a collector culture and infrastructure that could hold the work properly: rooms, records, rituals, and routes that matched the quality of the art
Qhakaza was conceived as a quiet answer to that gap. The name, from isiZulu, means to flourish and to blossom, and it reflects a conviction that artists, collections and the relationships around them deserve conditions that allow for exactly that
Rather than another open marketplace, Qhakaza is structured as a private culture of collecting. It brings together intelligence, hospitality and a particular social setting to offer a more composed route into African contemporary art for those who wish to live with it at a higher standard. The ambition is simple: to help create a world in which African art, and the collectors who commit to it, occupy more space and move with greater confidence
Structure
How We Are Organised
Intelligence
Our research team evaluates, documents, and maintains artist and artwork records
Experience
Our experience team curates private viewings, dinners, studio visits, and collector encounters
Advisory
Our advisory team works directly with member collectors to build personalised acquisition pathways