My driven force as an Artist and co- cultural producer of Iwaya Community Art Festival- ICAF Lagos curated by Aderemi Adegbite, has been on the stride of personal commitment, dedication and desire to break boundaries. Through reflection and imagination on my biographical trajectory I had created ingenious works that spurred contemporary discourse on environmental, gender inequality, political and socio-economic imbalance in the society.
My artistic journey began three years ago when I participated in an alternative art school programme- Communal Re-imagination, organized by Vernacular Artspace laboratory funded by your noble organization (Prince Claus Next Generation Award), prior to my enrollment in the programme, I resigned from a pay job and that got my Accountancy career pursue at stake as I could not meet the financial commitment attached with the programme. I moved on not looking back but focused extensively on the alternative art school programme. This unflinching interest, commitment and moment of trying time energized my creativity as a participant. I later got an opportunity to feature as a performance artist in a group exhibition, titled – Tailor Scissors, curated by Leon Hoesl. This opportunity certified my name as an Artist in the Nigeria Art space. Afterwards, I presented my final exhibition at the graduates exhibition of the Communal Re-imagination programme where I explore performance and installation Art. I was opened to this genres of art by the facilitator of the section, Jelili Atiku, a renowned performance artist and this engagement has driven my interest in exploring performative, photography and installation art.
This tripartite genres of art has been my core means of communication as a young contemporary visual Artist. My performative presentation- Masquerading Plastic got institutions attention after the graduates exhibition; the work serve as an intervention on climate change and pollution caused by populace negligence. The work explores the present and impending future of human society concerning pollution and climate change and in the same stretch pronounce the possibilities in the present and incorporation of Yoruba belief system in (Egungun) masquerade as a spiritual entity in cleansing the environment.
The project got features in the community art festival- ICAF Lagos, video art in Art X Lagos, United Nations Live exhibition commissioned by Hfactor ( A hub in Lagos, Nigeria, and recently presented at the Within The Trees project of Tantdilex funded by Prince Claus and Goethe Institute. These several presentations of this performative initiative serve as a driven aids as an independent/ cultural producer to look forward in organising a community base festival- Plastic Art Festival, Lagos.
This festival will be a mobile community art festival and engagement with environmental degraded/ space space in the city. It will be a yearly festival where Artists, Scientists, Scholars, Wastes/ recycling managers and social workers will collaborate with the host community through workshop, talks, performance art, dance , installation, video art and photography etc
I am presently working on short film advocacy for a girl child, titled, Bamigbe ( Stay With Me ) a movie project that serve as advocacy against rape , domestic violence, victimisation and other sociatal vices experience by vulnerable girls in the society. I created an advert campaign for this project during the call for audio-visual advocacy campaign advert by Blue Mind foundation. I look forward to turn it into a feature length movie in the future.
My recent experimental installation art with Pepper “The son of A Pepper Seller” is a biographical reconnection and a reflection of the causalities of the measurements against the widespread of the pandemic. The installation consists out of a variety of pepper in different shapes and colors, arranged to compositions on canvasses or hanging from the ceiling in a cultural net. The latter I see as a depiction of the fate of the world hanging in a fragile balance as the current decade ushers during the pandemic. The arrangement on canvases refers to the genre of still life painting and connects it to the life reality of Lagos, Nigeria. During the nationwide lockdown essential commodities, particularly groceries were spoiled due to the initiated regulatory measures that also effected street traders and the informal economic sector of the Lagos metropolitan region. The halted distribution of groceries led to loss of resources. Likewise, I let the pepper decay over the course of the exhibition. With the aspect of rottenness that draw attention to the fact that the coronavirus directly and indirectly affects people of all ages, creed, race and status, taking the basis of existences without the state being able to compensate these effects. The decaying process of this installation also serves as a micro analogy to the effect on the body system and the socio-economic realities of citizens. Thereby, the my installation out of still lives out of real vegetables are a memento mori – a warning of the effects of globalization that become so obvious during the pandemic, with effects leading to the wasting of resources and food scarcity.
This installation art got global attention as the work feature in world class reputable media platforms like New York Post, Yahoo News, Reuters News And Gulf times News. It is a unique material that push the present of my community in Nigeria Art history.
I look forward to expand the scope/ design of this installation art and create more mind blowing works in the near future with a focused on perishable art as channel of presentation.
This few years of artistic progression drives my creativity and I promised to sow this seed award back to my practice and development of my community. This will also serve as a propelling aids for continuous improvement and means of reaching out to the next generation.