African artists live and work closely in touch with their public and are aware of both local and global current affairs. Furthermore, the representation of collective problems has become a recurrent pattern which underlines the importance of the community in Africa.
Cheri Samba, one of the most famous Congolese painters, stated: “My art is part and parcel of my environment. It draws its inspiration from the people, it is concerned with the people, and it is meant for them”

African art digs into its own reality, which makes artists the chroniclers of their times. Tradition, nature, myths and day-to-day life are sources of inspiration that shape the works of contemporary African artists. But common to all those artists, is the unavoidable influence that AIDS, and its impact on their societies, has in the conception of their art.
AIDS has shaped the lives of millions of people, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, and its impact it is embedded in the artists’ perceptions of their communities. Their works of art reflect in many ways the effects that the AIDS epidemic has on the societies they live in. However, art can and in fact should play an important role in the response to AIDS.
The proximity of African artists to their communities and the fact that they use a common language, place them in a privileged position to raise awareness of the epidemic as well as to provoke thought and dialogue around AIDS issues such as stigma and discrimination, poverty, gender and human rights