Nigerian-born artist Wole Lagunju, represented by Montague Contemporary, invited 1-54 to his studio based in the US.
Wole Lagunju practices a visually stunning form of Onaism, wherein he appropriates Western cultural artifacts and combines them with Yoruba cultural artifacts, notably Gelede masks, to challenge the audience to consider how we often look at culture through a Western lens.
The Gelede masquerade is a performance celebrating motherhood, fertility, and femininity – and combining these themes with Western cultural icons, he evolves our understanding of the role of Yoruba culture – and broadly African art – to reframe our perspective. Lagunju’s cultural references, mined from the eras of colonization and decolonization of the African continent critique the racial and social structures of the 19th century whilst evoking commentaries on power, femininity and womanhood.
More on Montague Contemporary’s website.
