Niyi Olagunju

Adeniyi "Niyi" Olagunju holds a National Diploma in General Art from Yaba College of Technology, Lagos, a BA Fine Arts (Hons) degree from St. Anne’s College, University of Oxford, UK, and an MA Fine Arts with specialisation in Sculpture from Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas, USA. He is a practicing studio artist with exhibitions across three continents.

Olagunju's contemporary appropriation of traditional African sculptures continues his exploration of global trade and the "absolute commoditization of everything." His Ekpiri series, a body of work made from the shells of ekpiri seeds, confronts the notion of representing cultural tropes. Reminiscent of the aesthetics of El Anatsui, these works are rooted in traditional Igbo dance and music, hence the waved installation.

Olagunju's sculptures question the value system driving the continued growth in the sale of traditional African artifacts. The artist bisects his sculptures vertically and coats them in metals mined from the region from where they are originally sourced. His use of precious and semi-precious metals draws attention to the multiple relationships that can emerge from the exploitation of natural resources in Africa, and its impacts on people and their cultural legacies.