East African Art in Dakar, at Ge'eza

East African art can be seen in Dakar at Ge'eza, a place built as a bridge between two Africas: artists shown there come from Senegal as much as from Ethiopia or Sudan, inside the same gallery and across temporary hangs. To see a piece or ask for its price, the gallery can be visited during restaurant hours, Tuesday to Sunday, 8am to 10pm.

A hub built as a bridge between two Africas

Ge'eza presents itself as a place of dialogue between Ethiopian and Senegalese cultures, a bridge between two Africas. That mission shows up in the gallery's programme, which has hosted hangs devoted to East African countries alongside the Senegalese scene. The guide on contemporary Ethiopian art covers the major names of that scene; the one on contemporary Sudanese art does the same for Sudan.

East African artists shown at Ge'eza

The gallery has shown works by East African artists across several hangs. Israa Hamad and Yasmeen Abdalah, presented as Sudanese artists since October 2026, were the subject of a hang dedicated to Sudan; the page for Israa Hamad gives a sense of that show.

Why this kind of programming

A gallery that only shows artists from one country tells a single story. By bringing together Senegalese, Ethiopian and Sudanese artists, Ge'eza offers a wider view of contemporary creation across the continent, without ranking one scene above another. For a visitor or collector already familiar with West African art, hangs devoted to East Africa offer a chance to discover different subjects, techniques and visual languages, a short walk from the permanent gallery.

What can be seen or asked about

What is on show changes from one hang to the next: some pieces stay up longer than others, so it is worth checking availability before travelling for a piece that matters a great deal. As with any work at Ge'eza, prices are not posted online: they are asked for from the artwork's page, and the reply comes by WhatsApp with the details and the certificate of authenticity.

A bridge that also runs through food and coffee

The dialogue between the two Africas is not limited to the canvases on the gallery lounge's walls. At Ge'eza, the Ethiopian coffee ceremony and the restaurant's food are part of the same project as the gallery: showing that a Senegalese house can carry a strong Ethiopian identity without one erasing the other. For a visitor who came for the art first, a stop for the coffee ceremony or an Ethiopian meal rounds out the visit in a more sensory way, during the same hours as the gallery itself.

For a collector already familiar with Senegalese art

A collector who already follows Ibou Diagne, Saadio or Tampidaro finds, in the hangs devoted to East Africa, a way to step outside a single visual repertoire without leaving a gallery they already trust. Techniques, formats and subjects often differ quite a bit from one scene to another, which gives a personal collection a range it would not have by sticking to a single national scene. That range stays gradual, though: hangs devoted to East Africa remain temporary, so it is worth checking what is actually on show at the time of a visit rather than relying on a hang that has already closed.

Following upcoming hangs

Upcoming hangs are not announced in advance on this page: they are tracked through the events page, the calendar, Instagram or the house's monthly newsletter. For a person or an organisation looking to showcase artists from a particular East African country, the Israa Hamad page and the gallery give a sense of the kind of project already hosted.

Programming that stays temporary by nature

Unlike the artists in the permanent gallery, hangs devoted to an East African country stay limited in time by design. That is why pages for artists such as Israa Hamad or Yasmeen Abdalah correspond to a specific moment in the programme rather than a continuous presence in the gallery. To know what is actually on show at a given time, it is always best to check directly with the team rather than rely on an article published months earlier.

Coming to see these works

Nothing replaces a visit to judge a canvas or a mixed-media piece in person: the texture, the real size, the way light in the gallery lounge moves across it. For any question about a particular East African artist or work, write on WhatsApp to +221 78 660 07 07 or to geezacultures@gmail.com.

A useful stop for a wider trip through African art

For a traveller already planning a stop at galleries or museums elsewhere on the continent, a visit to Ge'eza adds a different kind of reference point: a single place where West and East African work can be compared side by side, rather than across separate trips.