Works by African artists will get more traction as Indelibl, an e-commerce platform dedicated to promoting works by African artists, launches. Edwin Otta and Adetayo Jinadu, founders of Indelibl, say it is a platform which aims to empower African artists from around the world, by allowing their work to be more accessible to audiences of all backgrounds.
There is a growing demand for works by African arts and creative works. The biggest auction houses, from London to New York, such as Sotheby’s and Bonhams, have units dedicated to developing and promoting both contemporary and antique African art works. Works of artists such as El Anatsui, Ben Enwonwu, amongst several others, are selling at record-breaking prices, paving the way for younger artists to follow. Platforms like Indelibl will avail these artists a worldwide audience and commercial appreciation of their works.
Indelibl features a range of products, from original pieces of art to prints, t-shirts and books. Customers are able to purchase original artworks as well as other related items directly from emerging artists. This range captures Indelibl’s mission to make art more accessible and its vision to promote art as a lifestyle. The platform also gives its users exclusive access to exhibitions, book launches, film-screenings and other creative events.
The value of the online market for works of art will be nearly ₦1.3trillion (US$6.3billion) by 2019, projects Hiscox Online Art Trade Report 2015. Indelibl aims to be part of this huge market by putting unique African voices on the spotlight and allowing their narratives to reach audiences from all over the world. Indelibl offers its artists the opportunity to sell and promote their pieces to a niche audience. Indelibl also proposes affordable premium quality content to its customers and ensures that they have a personalised experience through a social interaction with the artists and their art works.
“Following the launch of our social commerce platform, our next focus would be on building our offline community. By carefully curating live experiences, we will be launching a fresh and exciting series of events celebrating our community,” says Edwin Otta, CEO/Founder of Indelibl. The first in the series of such events was Art the Hague, the international contemporary art fair which took place from the 4th – 8th of October. At an exhibition curated by Indelibl, titled “In Transition”, visitors explored the qualities of traditional African art in the contemporary context. The focus was on the influences of migration, globalisation and the African Diaspora.
