To commemorate Nigeria’s 63rd independence anniversary, we at Omenai are spotlighting some Nigerian artists who are making waves in 2023.
Bunmi Augusto
Bunmi Agusto’s practice explores psychology, cultural theory, and the evolution of selfhood through the lens of fantasy. Her works combine drawing, painting, and printmaking. She is creating fantastical retellings of her lived experiences as well as the unseen mechanics of the metaphysical forces around us using a paracosm known as “within.” She is telling the stories of the inhabitants of a surrealist wonderland in her mind called Within. The indigenous inhabitants of this world are hybrids whose human form is combined with elements she finds integral to her sense of self and cultural consciousness.
Courtesy of the artist.
Ayanfe Olarinde
Ayanfe Olarinde’s practice combines scribbling techniques and photography to create intricately detailed and multi-layered images. Her work investigates self-image, identity formation, social reality, collective history and mental health while probing popular culture and the inefficiencies of the government in contemporary society. Drawing from imperfections in her personal, continuous journey for acceptance, she scribbles to interrogate emotion while also exploring fluidity in form.
Courtesy of JD Malat Gallery.
Barry Yusufu
Self-taught artist Barry Yusufu works with charcoal drawing techniques and boldly coloured acrylic paints to make personal and textured portraits of Black people. Flowers, analogue technologies, and books are common motifs on his canvases. The faces of his subjects are rendered with great detail, in contrast to the spare forms that dominate much of the picture plane.
Courtesy of Gordon Gallery.
Michael Igwe
Michael Igwe works primarily with painting. His approach to the body and form is one of devotion to the fluidity and expanse of inner life. Igwe’s practise depicts a cartography of sensations that are so diverse that they transcend particularity. He seeks primal gestures that contemplate, conjure, and engender in each image the conditions that constitute selfhood. Each of his paintings is a clear meditation on form and subjectivity.
Courtesy of Superzoom.
Iyanuoluwa Adenle is a Nigerian art writer, essayist, and poet based in Lagos. She is currently the head writer at Omenai. Adenle has contributed to a number of art publications, including Tender Photo, Art News Africa, Pavillon 54, and Omenai.
