EDOZIE ANEDU

Edozie Anedu is a painter based in Benin City, Nigeria, who explores popular culture, social issues and his personal experiences through oils, acrylics and pastels. His paintings incorporate elemental forms that verge on the abstract, with figures and objects formed with expressive brush strokes akin to graffiti or mural art. His work often includes cultural references that span music, fashion and entertainment. His residency project, titled Pop culture, popped culture, will experiment with sculptural paintings using found and fabricated materials. The project will articulate the concept of a new universal culture, merging global identities and propelled by the advances in communication and technology.

Edozie’s first solo exhibition, Mistakes I Chose to Keep, was held at 16/16 in Lagos in December 2019. His work was also recently included in the group exhibition, Material Identities, at The Melrose Gallery, Johannesburg in 2019.

 

JOSEPH OBANUBI

Joseph Obanubi is a multimedia artist based in Lagos, Nigeria, whose work explores questions of identity and fantasy within the context of technology and globalization. His photographic collages reconstruct fragments found in everyday experiences, adopting digital and photo-montage techniques that mix reality and delusion. He considers his work to be a visual bricolage, a re-construct of different subjects taken from their original context into a new one. He describes his approach as surreal and Afro-futuristic, providing an alternative way of seeing regular things. His residency project, titled How close can it get?, explores the dense architecture and cohesiveness on the mainland of Lagos, Nigeria, examining the spatial, social and economic patterns of “closeness”.

Based in Lagos, Nigeria, Obanubi received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the University of Lagos. He has a background in advertising and currently lectures in the Visual Art unit of the Creative Arts Department of the University of Lagos. His series Techno-Heads was shortlisted as part of the finalist for the contemporary African photography prize in 2019 and won the British Council Prize for Emerging Artist in 2019.

STEPHEN TAYO

Stephen Tayo is a Nigerian photographer who captures intimate portraits that reveal the sartorial flair and quiet dignity of his sitters. Focusing on their clothing and accessories, his work explores the multi-layered symbolism of fashion: what clothing says about identity and relations with family and community. He often trains his lens on the everyday, commonplace but yet undocumented subcultures, elevating ordinary moments of his environment. For his residency, Stephen Tayo’s photographic project What If? will explore the drag culture in Lagos, documenting everyday encounters and exploring its connection to Yoruba concepts of sexuality.

Stephen Tayo’s work has been featured in Vogue US, British Vogue, New York Times, Indie Magazine, Dazed, Teen Vogue, Okay Africa, Vogue Italia, CNN, Artnews, OkayAfrica, Vogue Australia, Vice, and Interview Magazine, among others. He has recently exhibited at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris, Corosia Theatre and Expo and Film Centre in Amsterdam, the Ngola Art Festival in São Tomé, and The New Blank Vanguardat Aperture Gallery in New York.

THEBE PHETOGO

Thebe Phetogo is an artist from Botswana who works in painting, sculpture and installation. Rooted in his positionality as a Motswana artist working from a place of dislocation, Phetogo uses art to locate and build a space for himself in history, as a subject and participant of the contemporary moment. His work explores the construction of personal identity and narratives, questioning how our understanding of gender, sexuality, politics and history are formed. For his residency project in Lagos, Phetogo will create another chapter in his blackbody series, based on the concept in physics of electromagnetic energy absorption. These paintings will be formed in monochrome, borrowing from the aesthetic properties of green screens on film sets. The series explores the relationship between the individual and the community, questioning notions of the ideal body and visibility.

 

Phetogo received a Masters in Fine Arts from the University of Cape Town and a BA in Media Studies from the University of Botswana. His work has been included in recent exhibitions at Joburg Fringe 2019, The Art Room (Johannesburg), The Botswana Pavilion - No Return at Gallery Momo in Cape Town, and The Botswana Pavilion - Subjective Nationhood at the Botswana National Museum and Art Gallery in Gaborone. Phetogo is a 2019 Cassirer Welz Award finalist.  

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TINGYUN YIN

Tingyun Yin is a Chinese artist currently based in Boston, USA. A former architect, Yin now works primarily in installation, focusing on issues of displacement and urban living. Her thesis at MIT's Masters in Integrated Design and Management, titled "The Floating Wold", simulated a world where cities lost their geographic base, resulting in space that is collapsed and floats on vast water. In Lagos, Yin will continue this project based on the local environment, creating a 3D virtual reality scenario that imagines a fictional world. 

DANE KOMLJEN 

Dane Komljen was born in 1986 in Banja Luka, SFR Yugoslavia, and is based in Berlin. He studied at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade, Le Fresnoy in Tourcoing and the Universität der Künste in Berlin. His short films have been shown and awarded at the Locarno Film Festival, IFF Rotterdam, Festival de Cannes, FID Marseille, Toronto IFF, New York FF and Sarajevo FF. All the Cities of the North, his first feature, premiered in 2016 at Locarno and was subsequently shown at over 60 festivals and venues worldwide, received a theatrical release in the USA. Phantasiesätze, his most recent short, won the Mantarraya Casa Wabi award at Locarno in 2017. The Institute of Contemporary Arts in London organized a complete retrospective of his work at the end of 2018. 

KATRIN WINKLER

Katrin Winkler (* 1983) is an artist and filmmaker based in Berlin. She works in the fields of expanded cinema, critical research, photography and video. How history is in-/visible and entangled with the contemporary moment is a reocurring theme in her artistic practice. She studied photography at Munich University of Applied Sciences, Media Art with Günther Selichar at HGB Leipzig, where she also attended Clemens von Wedemeyer’s master class, and photography and Integrated Media at the California Institute of the Arts, where her teachers included Allan Sekula and Billy Woodberry. Winkler has worked at Katutura Community Art Centre in Windhoek, Namibia, and City Varsity in Cape Town, South Africa. This year she is a participant of BPA- Berlin Program for Artists. Her films have been shown at festivals and exhibitions, including the Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, the Short Film Festival in Oberhausen, Sursock Museum in Beirut and Forum Expanded at the Berlin International Film Festival.

ADEBAYO OMOTADE  

Adebayo Omotade is a Nigerian musician, sound and visual artist whose work incorporates snippets of classical African music, rhythms, and archival sounds. Born in Ile-Ife in 1982, Adebayo was immersed in art and sound from a tender age, being a part of a cultural art ensemble originating in Osogbo and touring the South-Western region of Nigeria. As well as being a percussionist, Adebayo’s interest in photography led him to begin documenting the work of the ensemble using his father’s camera. He set up his own photography studio in Lagos, Nigeria in 2002 to further pursue his passion for photography, after which he relocated his photography studio to Johannesburg, South Africa where he was named in the top 5 African photographers of the year 2008 by African Photo Entrepreneur Programme. As a musician and sound artist, Adebayo has worked on various projects across Africa, establishing and co-curating various bands including The Fridge, Bongi Mvuyana, Axion Reaxion, Bita Kola and Skata Vibration. He has produced for musical acts such as Brymo, The Collective and has played at various music festivals. He is an avid researcher of African sound and musical history who is in constant exploration of new and innovative ideas in sound creation, blending classical sounds and rhythms with contemporary instruments to create a rich, captivating and compelling sound experience.

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KRIS RUSSO 

Kris Russo is an American artist who works in installation and mixed media. Her work explores questions of identity and historical memory, focusing on the convergence of religion, technology and the environment in relation to the experience of dis/re-enchantment. Russo’s residency project examines our relationship with plastics by creating an immersive installation with sculptures, collages and light boxes. Russo has recently participated in the Dak’Art Biennale as the children’s curator and created a site-specific installation for the Lagos Biennial in 2017. 

JESS ATIENO 

Jess Atieno is a Nairobi-based visual artist who explores the performativity of human interactions as it plays out in physical, virtual and psychological spaces. Atieno often utilizes the image of the body in layers of found images and text. Much of her recent work explores the space between memory and fantasy, reflecting on the imagined space as a third dimension that engages social concerns of power, collective history and personal narratives. She builds up layers of images transfers, text and sometimes paint and ink, to convey a layering of compression, time and narrative. Jess Atieno's residency is part of a partnership with the Lagos Biennial. Her project will be exhibited in the Lagos Biennial later this year. 

SABELO MLANGENI 

Sabelo Mlangeni is a South African artist whose photographs have focused on capturing the intimate, everyday moments of communities in contemporary South Africa. For his residency project in Lagos, Mlangeni will investigate how social media shapes celebrity culture in Nigeria, specifically celebrities whose public personas test identity, sexuality and gender norms. He has held solo exhibitions at Wits Art Museum and the University of Cambridge's Museum of Acheology and Anthropology. His work has been show at the New Art Exchange, Nottingham, the Walter Collection, New York/New-Ulm, the 9th Rencontres de Bamako African Photography Biennale in Mali, the LagosPhoto Fetival in Nigeria, and teh V&A Museum in London. Mlangeni has held two solo exhibitions at Stevenson Gallery, and he is currently represented by Blank Projects, Cape Town. 

DIANA EJAITA

Diana Ejaita is a Nigerian/Italian artist based in Berlin who works in illustration and textile design. During her residency, Diana Ejaita will incorporate painting and silkscreen to explore the legacy of Nigerian author Amos Tutuola. Inspired by the author’s stream of consciousness style and narrative patterns, Diana will explore the conversation between texts, images and objects. She will also develop a short film based on Tutuola’s celebrated book, The Palm Wine Drinkard, questioning the roles given to women in his narratives. In 2017, Diana Ejaita completed an artist residency at Waaw in St. Louis, Senegal. 

WILFRED UKPONG

Wilfred Ukpong is a a Nigerian artist based in Oxford, UK, who works in photography, film, sculpture, installation and performance. Since 2011, he has developed a long term project in the Niger Delta that explores environmental concerns through a fictional and futuristic lens. In Lagos, Wilfred will create another chapter in his ten-part Blazing Century project, which is set within geographical locations embroiled in social and environmental devastation. His project will deal with the contextual issues facing Makoko, the floating community located on the coast of the Lagos mainland, which is under constant threat of eviction and demolition. 

NGOZI SCHOMMERS 

Ngozi Schommers is a Nigerian artist who addresses issues of migration, politics, religion and gender. Her work focuses on experiences of women from Africa, interweaving with her own family history. Recent projects have included her collages made with confetti and charcoal drawings and installations. Schommers' project in Lagos examines contemporary female identity in Nigeria, exploring notions of womanhood, motherhood and stigmatism in modern spaces. Her project will look at roles within social and cultural systems, such as sexuality, social behaviors and domestic roles, and how social stigmas interfere with personal choices and career. Schommers graduated from Yaba College of Technology. Her work has been recently  exhibited in a group exhibition at the Kunstalle Bremmen in Germany. 

NATALIA ORENDAIN DEL CASTILLO 

Natalia Orendain del Castillo will explore issues surrounding the port of Lagos, focusing on the subjects of space and perception through an immersive and participatory format. A Mexican-born visual artist and scenographer, Natalia began her studies in visual arts specializing in sculpture. With an ongoing interest in performative arts, she continued her studies in the Kunsthochschule in Berlin Weissensee as a stage and costume designer. Since 2012, she has participated in several forms of experimental, documentary and music theatre productions in Berlin, Frankfurt am Main, Prague, Norway and Mexico. Her artistic research focuses on the subjects of space perception and production, sound as creator of space and the performativity within the everyday; making use of immersive, installative and participatory formats to explore the audience´s experience.

JUMOKE ADEYANJU

Jumoke Adeyanju's project explores hybrid identities of the Diaspora, incorporating interviews, multimedia and panel discussions that document the artistic and creative community in Lagos. She is interested in how various elements of expressive art forms interrelate and incorporate the potential to (re-)create moments of reviving other or rather lost selves. Raised in Aachen, Germany, Jumoke studied Area Studies Asia/Africa at the Humboldt University of Berlin, and is now pursuing a Master Degree in South-and Southeast Asia Studies. She recently joined the newly founded “blackism collective”, a multidisciplinary movement artists collective. Jumoke is the founder of “The Poetry Meets Series” and co-director of “Ujamaa Culture Center e.V”, a community center for African-diasporic people, momentarily facilitating exhibitions/installations, african language courses (Twi) and film screenings. 

OJUDUN TAIWO JACOB

Ojudun Taiwo Jacob's project in Berlin will examine social and political dynamics in Germany through choreography and performance. Jacob is a multimedia performance artist from Lagos. He lives and works as a performer, chorographer and curator in the Bariga district on the mainland of Lagos. In 2012 he founded the Illuminate Theater Lagos, whose artistic director he has been since. He received his choreographic and artistic / conceptual training through his many years of collaboration in the Crown Troupe of Africa in Bariga / Lagos. 

OATHMAN NATIVE MAQARI 

Born in Zaria, Nigeria in based in Paris, France, Oathman (Native) Maqari is a multidisciplinary artist whose work spans video, installation, performance, painting and drawing. His recent projects have united performance and video to create in situ videos, with live performances at the Villa Medici in Rome, Palazzo Lenzi in Florence and Maison des Arts in Paris in 2017. Maqari’s project in Lagos centers around the historical, economic and sociopolitical significance of the indigo pigment in Northern Nigeria, particularly in Kano and Zaria. Maqari has completed artists residencies at the Jannat El Arif Foundation in Algeria, La Maska Foundation in Geres, France, and Villa Medici in Rome.  

MUHKTARA YUSUF 

Mukhtara Yusuf is a Nigerian artist living in the United States, who works in social sculpture and installation. Her work explores topics surrounding African identity, selfhood, political injustice, personal trauma and healing. Her work often uses found materials to engage cultural history and relay narrative. Mukhtara received an MA in Communications, Culture, Media from the University of California, San Diego and a BA from Dartmouth College. 

INES VALLE 

Ines Valle is a Portuguese/Angolan artist, curator and researcher who focuses on issues of memory, colonization and architecture that spark transcultural narratives. Valle’s project in Lagos looks at architecture in Lago’s Brazilian Quarters, incorporating video, photography and sound. Beginning the project in 2014 in Nigeria, the project connects architectural heritage with personal stories, sharing the stages, smells, and colors from these transatlantic narratives. Valle is currently obtaining her MA in Postcolonial Culture at Goldsmiths, University of London. She holds a BA in Visual Arts and an MA in Curatorial Studies from the University of Lisbon.

KITSO LYNN LELLIOTT 

Kitso Lynn Lelliott is an artist from Botswana living in South Africa who explores articulations from spaces beyond epistemic power, often times working in site-specific installations. Her work has engaged socio-cultural formations that took shape over the Atlantic during the African slave trade. Lelliott’s project in Lagos will use video to experiment with the idea of traces. Lelliott is currently finishing her PhD at the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. She has completed artist residencies at Asiko Art School (Senegal), Saint Louis (Senegal), the University of Bayreuth (Germany) and Sacatar Foundation (Brazil). Lelliott was a laureate of the French Institut 2015 Visas pour la création grant and exhibited in Bamako Encounters 2015.

JIMMY NWANNE ​

Jimmy Nwanne juxtaposes seemingly disparate visual references in his paintings that are placed together to form implied narrative associations. Combining elements of abstraction and realism, Nwanne creates unusual textures and colour combinations that speak to the social and political issues of a globalised world. Born in Kaduna, Nigeria in 1989, Jimmy Nwanne studied Fine Art at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, with a major in painting. Nwanne lives and works in Kaiserslautern, Germany. 

GLORIA OYARZABAL LODGE ​

Gloria Oyarzabal Lodge is a Spanish artist and photographer who diversifies her professional activity between photography, cinema and teaching. Lodge is the Programmer and Co-Founder of Independent Cinema "La Enana Marrón" in Madrid (1999-2009), dedicated to the diffusion of author, experimental and alternative cinema. After receiving her Bachelors Degree in Fine Art (UCM) and her Masters Degree at the Blankpaper School of Photography, Lodge lived and worked in Mali for three years. Lodge's residency is part of the Arthouse Foundation exchange programme with the Matadero Museum, Madrid, and is supported by the Embassy of Spain. 

CHRISTIAN NEWBY ​

Christian Newby is an American artist who works between London and Madrid. His mixed media work incorporates textiles, drawing and ceramics. Newby's project in Lagos will consider the techniques and materials of traditional crafts in relation to material culture at large. He received his B.A. in Sculpture and Extended Media at Virginia Commonwealth University in 2002 and then an M.F.A. at the Glasgow School of Art in 2009. Newby's residency is part of the Arthouse Foundation exchange programme with the Matadero Museum, Madrid, and is supported by the Embassy of Spain. 

THIERRY OUSSOU ​

Thierry Oussou (Benin, b. 1988) is a visual artist and recent resident at Rijksakademie in Amsterdam. After assisting with artists Ernesto Houngbo, Meschac Gaba, and Barthélémy Toguo, he created his own art studio, Yé, in Benin. He has received multiple awards for his work, including the first Jacqueline van Tongeren Fellowship 2016 at Rijksakademie and was nominated by the Dutch Royal Award for Modern painting at the Amsterdam Royal Palace in 2016. He has participated in recent exhibitions at Stevenson Gallery (Cape Town) and Belenzhino (Sao Paulo). 

KADARA ENYEASI 

Kadara Enyeasi (Nigeria, b. 1994) is a self-trained fine art photographer from Lagos, Nigeria.With a background in architecture, his photographic projects explore the relationship between the individual and the urban environment. Enyeasi’s work is influenced by fashion and design, combining his commercial work with personal projects. Enyeasi graduated from the University of Lagos with a major in architecture. In 2016, he was a finalist for the National Art Competition. He has recently been listed on Nataal’s “Ones to Watch 2017” list. Kadara is also a curator at the African Artists’ Foundation and the director of the multidisciplinary fine art studio, STUDIO ENYEASI. Enyeasi lives and works in Lagos.

NENGI OMUKU ​

Nengi Omuku (Nigeria, b. 1987) is a painter who features dark, amorphous and human presences that float through active spaces. Her work functions as a metaphor alluding to wider themes of difference and mutual belonging. Omuku completed an MA and BA in Fine Art at the Slade School of Fine Art. Recent exhibitions include the Armory Show, Focus: African Perspectives (New York), A State of Mind, Omenka Gallery (Lagos),  and the Jerwood Drawing Prize Exhibition, Jerwood Gallery (London). She is the recipient of several awards, including the British Council CHOGM Art Award presented by HRH Queen Elisabeth II. 

FRANCOIS BEAURAIN

Francois Beaurain (France, b. 1976) is a multidisciplinary artist working across photography, drawing, collage and sculpture. His recent projects explore Nigerian movie posters that he has been collecting for years and uses as raw material for collages. He also played a pioneering role by realizing lively and playful animated GIFs in Liberia and Nigeria. Beaurain studied physics and holds a PhD in Biology. He currently works as a climate change specialist in parallel to his artistic activities. Beaurain is based between Paris and Rabat, Morocco.

JELILI ATIKU​

Jelili Atiku (b. 1968) is a performance and multi-media artist who examines political concerns for human rights and justice. Through drawing, installation, sculpture, photography, video and performance art, Atiku comments on the psychological and emotional effects of traumatic events including violence, war, poverty, corruption and climate change. A graduate of University of Lagos and Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Atiku was the recipient of the prestigious Prince Claus Award in 2015.

TYNA ADEBOWALE

Tyna Adebowale (b. 1982) is a mixed media artist who utilises texts, pigments and found materials to explore issues of gender, sexuality and identity. Her work comments on topics spanning Nigeria’s dysfunctional political landscape and the impact of social media in contemporary society. A graduate in painting from Auchi Polytechnic, Adebowale has completed residencies at the Instituto de Arte E Cultura Yuroba in Brazil and Asiko Art School in Ghana.

DIPO DOHERTY

Dipo Doherty (b. 1991) is a painter whose work explores the language of spatial geometry, with a focus on the depiction of the self and the human form. Binding together a dynamic set of styles and motifs, Doherty creates abstracted figures that give expression to emotional, cultural and scientific energies. A graduate of the University of Virginia, Doherty has held recent solo exhibitions at Red Door Gallery and Nike Art Gallery in Lagos.

OLUMIDE ONADIPE​

Olumide Onadipe (b. 1982) is a sculptor who engages experimental processes that involve the manipulation of tactile materials. His recent work incorporates materials such as plastic bags, metal, wood, jute bags and glass, using a process of twisting and melting to create amorphous shapes that play with sculptural balance. A graduate in Fine Art from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Onadipe has held two solo exhibitions at Pan Atlantic University, Lagos.

VICTOR EKPUK

Victor Ekpuk is a Nigerian-born artist based in Washington, DC. Ekpuk came to prominence through his paintings and drawings which reflect indigenous African philosophies of the Nsibidi and uli art forms. Ekpuk reimagines graphic symbols from diverse cultures to form a personal style of mark making that results in the interplay of art and writing. His work has been exhibited in acclaimed international venues including the Krannert Art Museum (Illinois), the Fowler Museum (California), the Museum of Art and Design (New York), the Newark Museum (New Jersey), the Smithsonian Institution (Washington, DC), the New Museum of Contemporary Art (New York), the Dakar Biennale (Senegal) and the Johannesburg Biennial (South Africa).