Bisi Silva (1962-2019) was the Founder/Director of the Center for Contemporary Art CCA, Lagos, Nigeria, and Àsìkò, the innovative, itinerant art school held across Africa in cities including Lagos, Accra, Dakar, Maputo and Addis Ababa. The educational program for artists and curators — part art workshop, part residency and part academy — has filled a gap in the system and promoted essential critical methodologies and histories in artistic practice.
In 2015, Silva was the artistic director of the 10th Bamako Encounters, African Biennale of Photography, Bamako, Mali. She was one of the curators for the Dak'Art Biennale, Senegal (2006), and was a member of the international jury for the Pinchuk Art Centre's Future Generation Art Prize (2014) and the 55th Venice Biennale (2013). As a curator, Silva co-curated The Progress of Love, a transcontinental collaboration between the Menil Collection, Houston; Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts, Missouri; and CCA, Lagos (2012–13), J.D. 'Okhai Ojeikere: Moments of Beauty, Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki (2011); and the 2nd Thessaloniki Biennale of Contemporary Art, Greece; Praxis: Art in Times of Uncertainty (2009).
A frequent participant in international conferences and symposia, Silva published in journals and art magazines including Artforum, Third Text, The Exhibitionist, and Art South Africa. She edited the comprehensive monograph, J.D. 'Okhai Ojeikere published by CCA, Lagos (2014). She sat on the editorial/advisory boards of Art South Africa, N.Paradoxa: International Feminist Art Journal, and ContemporaryAnd.
