Negotiated Space in Contemporary Nigerian Art
This presentation will examine visual satire by contemporary artists of the Nigerian diaspora in the United States. It will analyze a few models of visual commentary, parody, or satire drawn from the collections of artists that include Obiora Udechukwu, dele jegede, Marcia Kure, Wole Lagunju, and Adenle Adewale. Avidly collected and exhibited at home and abroad, some are emerging artists, while others are established and highly visible since the 1980s. As Nigerians go to the polls this spring to elect a new president, these artworks vividly remind us that the country remains a negotiated space for its people and even more so for its journalists and artists. Through local images, idioms, and objects, most of these artworks underscore several questions that have trailed the country’s crop of postcolonial civilian and military leaders since political independence in 1960, but a few of the artworks critique power at a universal level.
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