Referring to Lucy MacGarry and Roberta Coci – fast friends and founders of Latitudes Online, the Latitudes Centre for the Arts, and the Latitudes RMB art fair –  as patron saints of independent artists in South Africa, wouldn’t be too misleading.

The duo met in high school and held down their first job together, bartending in San Francisco. Since then, their lives and careers have taken them to fascinating and far-flung places, but Latitudes, with its varying branches, has been a way for them to bring all of their passion and know-how together to enrich the local art world, bolster artists, and encourage a culture of collecting. And as it turns out, in this case friendship has been a brilliant ingredient for partnership.

We invited MacGarry and Coci to our workspace couch to get to know them a little better and find out what it takes to host one of Joburg’s favourite annual events. While RMB Latitudes is an undeniably sparkling art fair, it is their year-round work and vision that truly impressed upon us.

The 2025 edition of RMB Latitudes returns to Shepstone Gardens from Fri, May 23 – Sun, May 25. Book your tickets here.

The backstory – from school friends to brilliant partners

MacGarry and Coci caught the same bus from Houghton to their high school in Bedfordview. It took “maybe three days”, Coci tells us, to solidify their friendship.

They went to university together and, in between their honours and master's studies, travelled the world together. That stint in San Francisco? It was at the Golden Globe Theatre, working the bar. “We lied on our CVs because we couldn’t get a job, so we said we had bar experience,” says Coci. “We thought we’d just pour some beers and wine. We didn’t realise that you have 20 minutes to serve 2,000 people, and that Americans only wanted cocktails.”

Coci managed to wing it, while MacGarry got demoted to a water stand on the first night. “Not because I couldn’t pour the cocktails,” MacGarry says in her defense. “I just couldn’t work out [the money] quickly enough to give people their change.”

Back in South Africa, MacGarry began her career in a framing shop in Wynberg and then took up a post with David Krut’s printing studio, where she went on to establish their gallery, The Blue House in Parkwood. She moved to Cape Town and worked with the Spier, Hollard, and Nando’s group – running the art collection and procurement for much of the art that went into Nando’s restaurants around the world. MacGarry returned to Joburg, making her mark as curator for FNB Art Joburg for ArtLogic. It was here that her professional life once again intersected with Coci’s.

Starting her career in the media world at publications including House & Leisure and National Geographic, Coci’s path led to ArtLogic to run the Handmade Contemporary design fair. “I feel like I’ve done everything… and nothing is ever wasted,” says Coci, whose winding journey included a stint working for an online yoga business in Spain. She also lent her skills to the Nirox Sculpture Fair. 
 
Having them sit side by side, you notice how their fondness for each other is very much a part of how they interact. Humour is a big part of it. “Lucy is really funny,” says Coci, while MacGarry tells us: “My son told me the other day, ‘Mum, do you know that you laugh exactly like Robi?”

The duo see themselves as complementary opposites, in friendship and in work. “We literally have opposite skills,” says MacGarry. “Which works,” Coci joins in. “We’re both creative, but Lucy’s a big ideas person, and I’m detail-driven. Lucy’s visual, I’m words. We’re very lucky in that sense.”

Launching a singular art fair in Joburg

Before the art fair made its home at Shepstone Gardens as RMB Latitudes, the inaugural event was held at Nelson Mandela Square in 2020. And while style has always been a hallmark of this fair, the launch was decidedly less glamorous for MacGarry and Coci. “The first day we were literally sweeping the floors,” says MacGarry. Their fates collided when projects the pair were working on independently intertwined, and they had just six weeks to pull it all together. Drawing on MacGarry’s art education and experience in the field and Coci’s background in food and design events, it was a staggering success.

The Latitudes Online platform for independent artists

As with many origin stories of recent ventures in the city, the Covid-19 pandemic played its part. The fair went on a hiatus and MacGarry and Coci used their downtime to tap into the digital realm, which gave rise to Latitudes Online.

“We started [the online platform] for galleries and artists, because Covid was a moment where no one had a platform. Our focus very quickly shifted to make that sustainable,” MacGarry says. Building an Artsy (an international art marketplace) for Africa was a steep learning curve, as the process is incredibly layered – ensuring the safe passage of works from artists all over the continent to buyers around the world. 

“That was maybe the third time we lost our hair,” jokes Coci. “We’re creatives, not business plan people. It’s not like we saw 40 steps ahead. We were just like, ‘Let’s make this happen now before someone else does.’” From day one, when a sale went through for an artwork to be sent from Nigeria to Paris, they flung themselves into the deep end and figured it out along the way.

MacGarry notes that in the past five years, artists have professionalised unbelievably. “When we started out, works were arriving all dog-eared on the corners. That doesn’t happen anymore. We can generally trust that an artwork is going to arrive in good condition.” The rise of artists interfacing directly with collectors via Instagram has played no small part in this.  

Reaching budding collectors

The global arts economy has changed, especially with dips in major pieces on auction and the primary market. Now, much more accessibly priced works are selling, and new collectors – some of them Gen Z – are joining the ranks. “We were lucky,” says MacGarry. “Obviously, a part of luck is being prepared for good things to happen. But we started out at a time when everybody was behind their computers.” 

While the pandemic put a temporary stop to in-person events, three years of building up a strong community of artists and collectors contributed to the strength of the fair down the line. “People were sitting at home wondering what to put on their walls and were contacting us to buy a piece of art for the first time. That’s not someone who would have walked into an art fair. But that’s now gotten them into this journey of collecting and finding out about art.” What started out as a platform hosting 350 artists quickly grew into a network of over 2,000.

Enriching the South African art ecosystem

“Generally, the fairs in South Africa cater to the big galleries and serious collectors,” says MacGarry. “And for some reason, our artists aren’t allowed to take part on their own steam at art fairs – they have to be part of a gallery. We decided to come up with an alternative model that suited the ecosystem in South Africa, to make a space where all parties could come together; not just the big galleries, but small galleries as well as curators and independent artists.”

The name Latitudes reflects the all-inclusive, accessible ethos of the brand. “It’s latitudinal as opposed to top-down,” says MacGarry. As a result, RMB Latitudes is a perfectly attuned response to the local art climate, with its growing number of unrepresented artists who make incredible work.

“We’ve managed to get people who would never work together, working together,” MacGarry says. “It’s unheard of for an art fair to allow an auction house in, but everyone’s really seen the benefit of it.” Who could argue with this when, as part of the programme for RMB Latitudes for 2025, Strauss & Co is transporting a priceless Tretchikoff painting, Lady from the Orient, for opening night? This spirit of inclusivity is enriching for all.

An art playground: Relaunching RMB Latitudes at Shepstone Gardens

When Latitudes relaunched in 2023 with Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) as a partner, the fair was held for the first time at Shepstone Gardens in the historic suburb of Mountain View. This sprawling property was one of the original Witwatersrand Ridge homes commissioned by the Modderfontein Dynamite Company at the turn of the 20th Century. It is, in fact, where MacGarry grew up and where she still lives with her family. Recent years have seen the addition of a number of new structures including a glass chapel, transforming this whimsical space – with its meandering pathways, hidden courtyards, and beautiful gardens – into a venue.

The venue adds to the accessibility of Latitudes and adds a layer of enticement. “Not everybody wants to look at art,” says Coci. “Maybe you just want to be in a beautiful environment or have delicious food and wine. We wanted to speak to an audience not comfortable going to a convention centre for a traditional art fair. We got a lot of pushback before we started it.”
 
The moment MacGarry and Coci realised they’d hit upon something special was when arts writer Mary Corrigal came to share something she’d heard from an attendee in her 70s, who said, “I’m not interested in art at all. I just wanted to see the gardens. But look, I bought my first piece of art ever.” Artworks at RMB Latitudes range from the thousands to over a million, adding to the sense that anyone can come, appreciate, and actually participate in the (often mystifying) business of buying art.

Nurturing a dream team

2025 marks the fourth edition of RMB Latitudes – a highlight on Joburg’s art calendar, but the team’s activities are not limited to this. “It’s still a very small team,” Coci says of their core group of around 10 people. “They’re all in their early twenties and are more representative of our fair, because it’s still kind of the new kid on the block.”

The free sharing of knowledge is as valuable to Coci and MacGarry as being open to not knowing. “I think the minute you try to pretend you know everything, you’re going to stop learning,” says Coci. MacGarry chimes in, “The more you invest and give your team love, the more you get back.”

Looking to the 2025 art fair

RMB Latitudes art fair will host 70 exhibitors this year, with a number of special projects that include the Botswana Pavilion – part of the international galleries platform that allows galleries and arts practitioners from beyond South Africa to show without a fee. “We’re literally involving everyone who's involved in the arts in Botswana,” says MacGarry. “It’s been amazing, a huge project on its own. We’re doing a pre-event showing the whole project in Gaborone before the fair.”

It’s not enough to ship a bunch of works over and put them up; it’s about creating relationships that cross borders – and that last. “Joburg itself is a bridge,” says MacGarry, referring to the many people from different African countries who live here. Conversations are also a bridge, and the RMB Latitudes 2025 talks programme is all about Africa and its relationship to the world, particularly leading up to the G20 Summit in November. 

For more highlights coming to RMB Latitudes 2025, find out what we're looking forward to here. 

Shining year-round

While the work of Latitudes reaches its public-facing peak at the annual fair, it is so much more than this – from mentoring young people entering the industry, providing tangible support to artists with initiatives like the ANNA Award, publishing arts content that’s written in accessible language, and running a growing platform that puts art in front of non-traditional buyers. It’s not about shirking tradition for the sake of being transgressive – it's about looking at the nature of the art world in South Africa, and responding to it in kind. Removing traditional barriers to entry to foster a thriving arts community that is welcoming, open-handed, and equipped for the future.

Catch RMB Latitudes at Shepstone Gardens from Fri, May 23 – Sun, May 25, 2025. Book your tickets here.