Touria El Glaoui: The unstoppable energy behind the 1-54 Art Fair

In a world where art still often feels confined to intimidating spaces like museums and galleries, the 1-54 Art Fair at Somerset House stands out with its singularly accessible energy. 

It could be the snail-like staircases, intricate pathways connecting each wing, or perhaps the immediate feeling of being “at home” once inside; it could be the cozy rooms that bring bodies and conversations closer to each other and the “social sculpture” by artist Mónica de Miranda that now stands at the fountain court, offering a deliberate moment of green splash in the stone courtyard.

Whatever it is, it feels like art and people are coming together in a joyful dance over three days. The fair becomes a vibrant stage where the exquisite fashion of attendees, the powerful artworks from Africa and its global diaspora, and history itself all speak to each other in the hallways.

From South Africa, look out for the work of Esther Mahlangu or Katlego Tlabela. The Pretoria-based artist (who has a printmaking background from UCT’s Michaelis School of Fine Art) is showing pieces that powerfully use a layered perspective, with art embedded within the painting itself (I spent long minutes looking at each painting to discover the details). 

Also showing is Alice Mann, whose work is a masterclass in intimate portraiture. Her celebrated Drummies series (one of my favourite works of photography in recent years) uses South African drum majorettes to explore femininity and empowerment through sport. And there are many more artists showing; in total, “over 50 international exhibitors across 13 countries” are present. 

What began as a small fair with “

style="font-weight: 400;">17 galleries coming from Africa and Europe” has since exploded into a global phenomenon, with editions in London, New York, Marrakech, and pop-ups in Hong Kong. 

Behind all this is Touria El Glaoui, a woman whose own story is as rich as the art she champions. Raised in Morocco, she grew up surrounded by creativity: her father was the celebrated painter Hassan El Glaoui, and her grandfather was the last Pasha of Marrakesh, Thami El Glaoui. 

“Time here as a child was about my father’s cultural passions — horses, gardens, beautiful things,” she once said. “All this, plus love, are my strongest memories. Whatever was transmitted to me was positive.”

I had the chance to sit down with El Glaoui to talk about her journey and the incredible growth of 1-54. 

She explains the impulse behind the fair: “My first love, my first curiosity, my first art education was through my father. He’s the one who gave me that curiosity. He’s the one who had his studio in the heart of our home… We had a chance to see our father practise his art, at home. Our walls were full of his art… 

“My first trial and error events were with him because when he was getting older, he was already very established. But I could see him slow down in terms of his desire to do international exhibitions because it’s very complex from Africa to the rest of the world. It’s this personal relationship with my father and his professional experience that really made me understand the complexity of having visibility.

“Outside Africa, because of the way we are set up to be challenged, the shipping, the visas, the import-export taxes… This was something that I was completely mesmerised by, how complex it was for an established artist with a museum in the UK trying to do something together.

“The more I realised those artists had no voice, no visibility, it became a mission of 1-54 — it’s still our core initiative. Every edition we do, it’s about how do we give more visibility to artists? How do we include them in institutions? How do we get them into the biggest collectors’ collections? All this has always been to give a voice to those artists from the African continent and the African diaspora.” 

With that, the fair was officially set into motion. Somerset House was an evident location (the fair in Marrakech takes place at the iconic La Mamounia — where Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé settled in 1966 — and at the Halo in New York). 

“(Somerset House) was my favorite place, because I came here to listen to music, to see fashion shows, I came here to see exhibitions. It was a place where I could see there was a very diverse audience and a popular audience,” she notes. 

As the fair gained momentum, so did its physical footprint, expanding across Somerset House one wing after another to accommodate more artists and galleries. This expansion is led by a rigorous selection process. El Glaoui fondly recalls the spirited debates with the late Koyo Kouoh, who was the Executive Director and Chief Curator of the Zeitz MOCAA in Cape Town and who served on the selection committee for six years.

“Koyo had a very institutional eye,” El Glaoui says. “She was always picturing what she could do — an exhibition in a museum, in an institution. And sometimes, she would not consider the commercial aspects; it had to be excellent.”

But sales are vital to the fair’s business model. El Glaoui consistently monitors commercial success, a metric she watches carefully. 

“I’m listening a lot to what the galleries are saying. I’m doing a lot of work with my team to engage collectors before the fair, people who have been following us.”

Even with the fair’s proven success, El Glaoui’s energy remains focused on the future. She reflects on the immediate next steps and the eventual legacy of 1-54. 

“Not because I want to disappear, but just because I want it to continue. I want it to grow. I want to make sure that whatever hands it will fall into, that it is with the same passion and the same mission.” 

This ambition translates into new ideas, including the possibility of launching a 1-54 foundation, “where we can have maybe a permanent space where we could have a residency”. Whatever the future turns out to be, her unstoppable energy remains the most important driving force.

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Q: What book or writer has changed the way you see yourself? 

Touria El Glaoui: Black Skin, White Masks by Frantz Fanon. It really gave me an understanding that I didn’t have about how people who were colonised could feel… I had different experiences over the years, representing black artists… trying to understand the perspective, and some books really gave me the understanding of where they were coming from…

Then I’ve read a fantastic book that also gave me a great insight: Finding Dora Maar (Je suis le carnet de Dora Maar by Brigitte Benkemoun). 

It’s a book that I read this summer, and it’s the story about this woman who tried to order a (vintage) agenda for her husband (on e-Bay). And inside there’s the contact lists of Dora Maar’s friends. And basically the whole book is about the inside of Dora Maar’s life through her friends; it is the most beautiful thing because you know who she was friends with. She kind of retraced her relationship with each of them. And… It gave me an even better understanding of an artist who was also very misunderstood.

That’s the last one I read when I had time to read on the plane going to Sao Paulo, which was amazing. But since, it’s all been about my catalogs, the art fair and the biography of artists; I didn’t read anything.

Q: What scent feels like home to you?

TEG: Definitely orange blossom!

Q: When do you feel most yourself,  in solitude or surrounded by people?

TEG: Around people. Around people, yes. But I love to be alone. I’m very comfortable being alone, it’s very peaceful and restful for me. But I love people, I really do. I love having great conversations. What I don’t like is small talk and superficial conversations.

Q: What is the most expensive mistake you’ve ever made?

TEG: It’s against my will, but we got scammed… We paid the wrong person, somebody who hacked our email, and we paid a huge amount of money, and that hurt. So it was very, very expensive.

But there’s something about it, you know, where the bank was like, do you want to talk to a support group? And I was like, why would I want to talk to a support group? I want you to stop the wire transfer! But you feel so stupid and you feel like it’s a very expensive mistake because you know there are hackers, that you could have avoided the mistake. I was thankful to God that we paid this guy in installments!

Q: Is there an artwork that you wish you owned? 

TEG: Oh, there are plenty! I’m not talking about the masters, that I wish I had a Picasso and a few others. But definitely in the artist we presented, because I always had this rule — and also not the budget to do it — but I never went above £5,000 to buy a piece. So it was always about buying artists at their start, and obviously there were artists who, at £7,000 that I could have added £2,000, who became super big that I missed. But you can’t have them all, you know?

Q: When you think about your younger self, what do you wish someone had told her? 

TEG: I definitely wish I would have been more open about taking risks, about doing things. I might have done it much earlier. I had great parents… my mom… she was a beautiful professional model for Givenchy, and then she had us and she stopped working. Not because my dad asked her to stop, but just like, you have four kids, you have to maybe be more at home, I don’t know. She always was extremely encouraging because she thought she missed out on not studying at university and not having the baggage to hold a proper job with a company or whatever.

But she also was very scared and feared for the unknown. When I first started 1-54 and I told her: “I’m quitting my job to start this,” she was like, “Are you sure it’s going to happen?” And in a way, you have the same fear as your parents, even if you don’t want them to, you are worried about what they worry about.

I honestly think that opportunities and providence arrive at the right time… But I also remember how fearful I was to start this business… and it’s a lonely journey. 

If I had something to say to my younger self, it is: take a partner. Be two, so you can bounce ideas. DM

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity. 1-54 is happening in London until 19 October 2025. Find more information here.