The C’s That Keep Showing Up

As I walked through studios and galleries and held conversations with artists, I kept noticing something

Certain words kept surfacing again and again in casual conversations and in reflection . At first, I didn’t think much of it. But then the pattern became noticeable.

They all started with C.

Not by design. But by frequency.

Words like create, collaboration, community, continuity…
And then later—culture, connection, and care.

These were principles. Philosophies that guided how artists worked and related to others.

Create – more than just making, but building forms from thought to physical form. Asserting existence in the world we see and touch.

 Collaboration – because no one creates in isolation. Whether it’s paint or protest, art thrives when ideas meet.

Community – the well from which so much of African art emerges. Artists speak to and from their people.

Continuity – honouring the past, and figuring out how we carry, embody and sustain what matters most into the future.

Culture – the soil in which all of this is rooted. Living and shifting. Worn and born.  Shown and shared.

Connection – the very essence of art. A core reason for it. It links us to one another, across barriers and borders. Across time.

Care – for the art, yes, but more importantly, for the artist. Because art cannot survive without the one who makes it.

Through my research, I see that these are core themes of (African) art. 

So perhaps this is the heart of it:
Art is creation in collaboration,
with community,
informed by culture,
sustained through continuity,
driven by connection,
curated by care.

Maybe that’s how we transform the world.

One C at a time.