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Curator's Note

Awẹlẹwà, the slender, beautiful one, carries what Funmilayo Tejumola calls the hope of an African renaissance. Under a gold-beaded fringe h…

Curator's Note

The power here is in the angle: she is turned away from us, looking forward. Then you find the map of Africa inked on her neck, and the por…

Curator's Note

Sisi is the Yoruba word for a young woman in her prime. Christian paints two of them mid-stride, one gazing up at the other as if the next …

Curator's Note

The subject is the child. Godwin Edet Munam's masked ancestors sit with their backs to a crowned infant, guarding it, praying for it and fe…

Curator's Note

Àríké carries the name her family chose: meant to be spoiled on sight. Funmilayo Tejumola paints her as a young woman preparing for marriag…

Curator's Note

In Nigeria, a celebration has not begun until someone dances. Ekundayo catches three dancers at its height, faces left in soft pencil, the …

Curator's Note

A ring of white light, one eye flaring like a star, an ochre robe over a bare shoulder. Dayo paints Christ as a young African man with a fu…

Curator's Note

Before it was a square it was a racecourse, and the horses never left. Anth Ezeokoye puts the rearing horse statues at the centre of the gr…

Curator's Note

One plane parked, one lifting away: the two halves of every trip home. Anth Ezeokoye spells the airport's name across the terminal exactly …

Curator's Note

Of Toni Kuyinu's three royals, only the king keeps his eyes open, and he wears round wire glasses. A thoroughly modern young man, crowned w…

Curator's Note

Toni Kuyinu's gold usually crowns kings and queens. Here it rings the closed eye of a girl holding a single white feather to her face. It i…

Curator's Note

Dayo made his old man for the elders he grew up around, the quiet ones who have seen a lot and carry it with dignity. White beard against a…