The 14th London edition of the 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair has opened at Somerset House, with a VIP preview on October 15 and public days running through October 18. This year's programme gives unusual prominence to African modernism through a new initiative, 1-54 Presents: West Wind, curated by South African-Portuguese art historian Nancy Dantas.

West Wind takes its title from a 1966 song by Miriam Makeba and celebrates pioneering modern artists from Africa and its diaspora. The project brings together work by figures including Alexander 'Skunder' Boghossian, Bertina Lopes, Gerard Sekoto, Kofi Antubam, Sam Joseph Ntiro, Papa Ibra Tall and Uzo Egonu, presented by Hannah O'Leary Fine Art; Baya and Rafik El Kamel with Selma Feriani Gallery; and Ibrahim El-Salahi with Vigo Gallery. Founding director Touria El Glaoui said the edition aims to situate African artists within the art histories they helped to shape, rather than at their margins.

At the centre of the fair's special projects stands Flowing Upstream, a large-scale multimedia installation in Somerset House's fountain courtyard by Martin Wöllenstein, developed with Romeo Addai-Boateng Akoto of Ghana's Supreme Masqueraders Society, Perve Galeria and OCUBO. The work reshapes discarded Ankos costumes into 54 modular panels tracing the outline of the African continent.

Elsewhere in the programme, Hassan Hajjaj portrays a new generation shaping London culture in In My London Rockstars, counting figures such as Central Cee and Jorja Smith among his subjects. Nando's returns with the Spier Arts Trust to present Southern African artists around a theme of belonging, and Folasade Ologundudu leads a multi-day critical writing lab, (Re)Casting the Canon, examining how African art history is shaped through collective memory and reflection.