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Wole Lagunju is a 1986 graduate of Fine arts colours of Gelede which is one of the earliest in
and graphic design at the University of Ife, now the Gelede series, Lagunju dwells on the subject
Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria. He is of procreation in Yoruba culture. He celebrates the
an accomplished illustrator, graphic designer, ethos of women, their sacred powers and sexuality
installation artist and painter. by using a profusion of iconographic motifs and
Lagunju’s hybrid paintings of traditional Gelede visual imagery which draws upon traditional and
masks which are juxtaposed with images of the contemporary Yoruba art.
modern woman in the Western world redefine the Wole Lagunju has exhibited widely in Nigeria,
forms and philosophies of Yoruba visual art and United States, Trinidad and Germany. Recent
design. He reimagines and transforms cultural icons exhibitions include: Wole Lagunju: African Diaspora
appropriated from the Dutch Golden, Elizabethan Artist and Transnational Visuality, James Madison
as well as the fifties and sixties, Euro-American eras. University, Harrisonburg, Virginia (Solo Exhibition)
Lagunju’s cultural references, mined from the eras 2014, Womanscape: Race, Gender and Sexuality in
of colonization and decolonization of the African African Art, University of Texas, Austin Texas, 2011
continent critique the racial and social structures of Wole was awarded a Phillip Ravenhill Fellowship by
the 19th century whilst evoking commentaries on the UCLA in 2006 and a Pollock Krasner award in
power, femininity and womanhood. 2009. He lives in the United States.
In this painting, ‘Woman clothed in the resplendent

BONA EZEUDU and outside Nigeria, and attracted collectors from
For at least three decades, enthusiasts of Nigeria’s near and far.
visual arts scene have been familiar with the Working in the media of painting and sculptor,
name Bona Ezeudu. In the mid-1980s, Mr. Ezeudu Bona soon established a formidable professional
emerged as a sought-after artist, a member of reputation. He compiled an impressive dossier
the highly regarded Aka circle of artists whose of group and individual exhibitions both within
inaugural exhibition held in 1986. These artists Nigeria and several foreign countries. For a while,
were individually accomplished, but they burst as it seemed a safe bet that only diminished personal
a collective onto the national and international art drive could possibly stand between Bona and a
scene. Their works gained critical acclaim within soaring career as an artist.

ADETOLA ADENUGA
The contrast on the subjects face is a kaleidoscope of hope with a bright future into the unknown
journey. Adetola has fixed his subject into a world we have sometimes experienced and most likely come
to understand that hope is not lost as long as you have a dream.