African

art

finds

a

global

stage

in

Johannesburg,

featuring

Goodman

Gallery

Art Basel interviews Goodman Gallery's Liza Essers alongside other major players in the Johannesburg cultural scene, highlighting the city as a central landmark in the global art map.

‘Despite the challenges, Joburg remains one of our country’s most dynamic artistic hubs,’ says Liza Essers, the owner and director of Goodman Gallery, one of South Africa’s oldest commercial art venues, founded in 1966. In its early days, Goodman was one of the only galleries that championed the work of Black artists such as David Koloane and Sam Nhlengethwa, at a time when they were restricted by the apartheid government. More recently, Goodman has created cross-diasporic conversations by representing award-winning artists with roots in the Global South, among them Kapwani Kiwanga, Remy Jungerman, Alfredo Jaar, El Anatsui, and one of Johannesburg’s greatest exports, William Kentridge.