Ellipse Art Projects was founded in 2020 at the initiative of Ellipse Projects, a European company specialising in cutting-edge infrastructure in the healthcare and digital sectors, with a strong presence across Africa.

Recognising culture as a vital force for sustainable development, fostering both economic growth and social inclusion, the fund was established in response to the persistent lack of support for artists, initiatives and organisations working to promote, disseminate and preserve cultural practices. Building on the geographical reach of its founding company, Ellipse Projects, the endowment fund seeks to foster exchanges across territories through art, encouraging the circulation of knowledge and dialogue between cultures.

ANNIVERSARY EXHIBITION

The Ellipse Prize is a travelling visual arts competition dedicated to emerging artists, with a different territory explored with each edition.

The initiative seeks to foster collective awareness through the messages conveyed by artists, in dialogue with the themes explored each year.

In 2026, to mark the Prize’s fifth anniversary, the Ellipse Art Projects endowment fund is presenting a group exhibition bringing together the five prize winners and 18 finalists who have shaped its successive editions. Curated by Sitor Senghor and the EAP team, the exhibition will take place from October 15 to 31, 2026, at 62 rue Charlot, 75003 Paris, France.

This anniversary project celebrates the artists supported over the past five years while reaffirming the founding values of Ellipse Art Projects: fostering dialogue between artistic scenes, encouraging mobility, and facilitating artists’ access to professional networks.

With: Nauld Adjahuime, Maria Adjovi, Théophany Adoh, Assoukrou Aké, DelaAnyah, Parmenas Awudza, Kha Bamba, Reginald Boateng, Sena Burgundy, Cynthia Colney, Clément Cbegno, Khalifa Hussein, Nobel Koty, Marcel Kpoho, Keren Lasme, Ismaël Mahamadou Louali, Aly Mazeh, Atelier Ndokette, Nana Frimpong Oduro, Ras Sankara, Koffi Seble, Emmanuel Aggrey Tieku, Thierry Tomety.

To mark five years of collaboration with AKAA, Ellipse Art Projects presents a photography-focused display this year, echoing the bicentenary of the medium being celebrated in 2026.

The exhibition brings together five finalist photographers, each representing one of the artistic scenes explored by the Prize since its inception: Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, Togo, Benin and Ghana. Bringing five distinctive perspectives into dialogue, the selection offers an insight into the breadth and diversity of contemporary West African photography supported by the endowment fund since 2021.

Moving between portraiture, collective scenes and visual experimentation, the works gathered here explore the body in its many forms. Through these varied presences, the artists unfold narratives in which the intimate intersects with the collective, raising questions around identity, memory, transmission and the ties that bind us to one another.