The Art of the Vibe : RMB Latitudes Art Fair 2026

By PETRA MASON June 8th, 2026

"I realised the only way I could visit Latitudes Art Fair everyday is if I worked at the fair," a young Venda animation grad told me as we shared our mutual enthusiasm for Latitudes, the new Johannesburg, South Africa ‘disruptor’art fair. Located in a wonderland setting known as Shepstone Gardens, there is not one minimal white cube wall in sight and no parking - initially I thought the in-person art fairs' novelty location would wear off. Instead it has gained momentum. Today, Latitudes Art Fair and Latitudes Online co-founders Lucy MacGarry and Roberta Coci are responsible for the largest online platform for art from Africa. With Latitudes MacGarry and Coci have made an indelible mark on the pan-African art world. The all-women led Latitudes team are actively committed to 'creating space for contemporary African art and its wider cultural community to thrive' and are doing so with seamless efficiency. The Art Fair happens in May but all year 'round the office runs Latitudes Online, an art podcast, an encyclopedic newsletter, an art award and several art sustainability programmes.

PostAfrobeat founders Emalohi and Adey Omotade photo by @Antheapokroyphotography

The family owned historic Sheptone Gardens is a terraced, three-acre, hillside, indoor and outdoor venue featuring a mash-up of fantasy romantic architectural styles. Follies and chapels, glass marquees, center courts and rooftop pavilions surrounded by immaculate landscaping. 

The platform has proved to be a genuinely inclusive, immersive art experience that lives up to its promise of ‘transcending traditional boundaries’ visitors, publishers, artists, galleries and collectors are loving it, as are the Instagrammers. 

Set within historic terraced gardens RMB Latitudes Art Fair Indoor / Outdoor Art Fair features exhibitors from across Africa. Photo @arthit_global  

So how do you sell ‘a vibe’ to workshops, publishers, artists and art galleries looking to make a sale?

To get a snapshot of this year’s fair I asked two studios who travelled to the City of Gold to set up shop for the weekend. Cape Town based Creative Block https://houseunionblock.co.za/collections/creative-block elaborates: "It’s always a lively experience. We have built a dedicated collector base that returns each year, to grow their Creative Block collection. It’s our best local sales platform where we love meeting artists and art enthusiasts." Mpumalanga based The Artists’ Press https://www.artprintsa.com/ observed: "Gen Z 'artist, Simon Attwood sold the best this year. People were buying mid to low, mostly new clients, including a matric boy who bought his first artwork to start an art collection."

Returning to the fair on Sunday for the finale and several awards ceremonies, I clambered up through an English garden to a Baroque balcony overlooking the trees and rooftops of the 140-year-old former mining town. With winter nipping and the world in disarray, I arrived with an open mind and left with a full heart and made a genuine discovery: at the Root Formula booth I was introduced to the PostAfrobeat POSTAFROBEAT genre by founders Emalohi and Adey Omotade and now I am hooked. Could PostAfrobeat be the new AfroFuturism? Either way, RMB Latitudes Art Fair is a hit. https://www.latitudesartfair.com

 EBONY/CURATED painting by Blessing Rooi. Photo of Petra Mason by @my_lime_boots