Meet the Rele Arts Foundation Young Contemporaries 2023 Artists

Contemporary art gallery, Rele Gallery has announced its new artists line up and the opening date for its 8th edition of the Rele Arts Foundation Young Contemporaries Programme.

According to Rele Gallery, the Young Contemporaries Programme was Initiated in 2016 and the programme identifies, mentors and promotes early-career artists from Africa, by equipping them with tools and resources for artistic development. Each year, the Foundation guides artists via its virtual boot camp and Ado-Ekiti residency programme towards the creation of critical projects, encouraging innovative explorations of existing inquiries as well as the birth of fresh ideas.

This year’s edition presents the works of seven artists —Adeniyi Adewole, Adetutu Adediran, Hanson Okere, Yoma Emore, Seidougha Linus Eyimiegha, Elfreda Fakoya and Tosobuafo Matilda Bardi — working across a diverse range of mediums.

Meet the artists:

Adetutu Adediran

Adetutu Adediran is a visual artist and conceptual photographer. Working with the conceptual style of photography, the artist presents her works in a manner that combines the use of posed photographs to convey symbolic ideas on masculinity, identity and migration. Adetutu states that her work is influenced by personal experiences and stories from her immediate environment.

In the body of work to be displayed at the Young Contemporaries exhibition, Adetutu’s photographs serves as a medium to remember friends who have migrated from the country
and those who are readying to leave. The body of work “Now We Are Leaving” captures the Japa wave in the country. There’s a sense of inevitability of happenstance in the mood of her photographs.

Adeniyie Adewole Wasiu

Adeniyi Adewale Wasiu is a contemporary sculptor. His work explores the past and the present as it relates with the Yoruba people. Adeniyi’s practice takes him into the different facets of the Yoruba history, culture, mythological beliefs, folktales and fables to engage with societal dogmas. His surrealist approach enables him to present human forms with stainless steel balls for the heads. He insists that the use of these balls references the surreal landscape of the ‘inner head’ as well as providing a reflection of the outside world.

Tosobuafo Matilda Bardi

Tosobuafo Matilda Bardi is a visual artist that makes compelling figures by drawing inspiration from the annals of the human mind and also tethers around the topic of altered consciousness. Tofo says of her work, “My art is an illustration of introspection of man made voids. Exploring concepts of psychology, self doubt, negative patterns and existentialism, I imagine the movements of the human consciousness and the spaces it occupies in considering a state of being and the fear of the unknown.”

Yoma Emore

Yoma Emore is a visual artist covering digital and textile mediums. Emore creates works that combines her background as a painter and her interest in other forms of visual arts, infusing motifs, repeat patterns and text.

“My presented body of work is a biographical exploration of my father’s stories as a response to the way my immediate older brother defines himself, “son of an international landscaper”. In creating this project, I began to think about the ways in which we define ourselves and whom our identities are rooted. More often than not, our identities are primarily defined and shaped by whose children we are. Here, I embark on a journey of rediscovering who my father is, through his past experiences and journeys. I chose a particular moment in time (1977 – 1982) a period that constituted monumental change in his life, as well as representing an intersection of past, present and future.”

Hanson Okere

Hanson Okere works with pyrogaphy techniques and creates illustrative scenes that draws from personal experiences and reflections.

Of his presented body of work titled, ‘Odd One Out’, he says: “It explores the themes of identity, social anxiety, aloneness, and the search for oneself. Much of this exploration examines the idea of vulnerability and coming into and acceptance of self. In addition to exploring social anxiety, the project focuses on self actualization and realization, sharing my past and current experiences as an introvert from a juvenile stage of adulthood.”

Seidougha Linus Eyimiegha

Seidougha Linus Eyimiegha (aka Mr. Danfo) specializes in painting and his work is spurred by his everyday Lagos experiences. Seidougha’s practice engages local art forms, contemporary designs and popular culture. He re-enacts these stories in his paintings by utilizing colour, geometric shapes, graphic design and installations this blurring the boundaries between painting and graphic design.

About his practice, he says, “The body of work presented addresses one of my major concerns as a frequent road user, which is the role of traffic signs in our day-to-day commute. Studying various traffic signs across countries and how they function to ensure safety, I select unifying elements from these signs and re-compose them to construct narratives on the safety of children and the need to care about the lives of others. As a survivor of a road accident, I find urgency in addressing contemporary traffic culture as well as exploring a history of street signs, street culture and safety, as well as our global experience(s) of public spaces.”

Elfreda Fakoya

Elfreda Fakoya is multidisciplinary artist working between Lagos and London. Fakoya studied fashion design at Ravensbourne University and has ever since added garment production and print techniques to her practice.

She says, “working primarily with textiles, my practice explores the complexities of gender, cultural heritage, race and diasporic identities as seen through clothing and customaries. The tension that lies between holding opposing ideas within the same breath has always inspired me. I find this duality in many facets of life, especially within the context of cultural globalization and the way its conflicts and resolutions quietly affect and ‘customize’ us.”

A contemporary‌ ‌art‌ ‌gallery‌ ‌with‌ ‌2‌ ‌locations‌ ‌in‌ ‌Lagos,‌ ‌Nigeria‌ ‌and‌ ‌Los‌ ‌Angeles,‌ ‌USA, Rele Gallery focuses on representing and exhibiting
emerging and established artists working with different forms art in Nigeria and in diaspora. The foundation boasts of an impressive alumni of artists like; Nnoli Chidimma, Marcellina Akpojotor, Tonia Nneji, Sejiro Avoseh, Osaze Amadasun, Dipo Doherty, Rewa, Ayobola Kekere-Ekun, Abisola Gbadamosi, Yasser Claud-Enin, Stephen Tayo, Eloghosa Osunde, Osaru Obaseki, Logor Oluwamuyiwa and Fidelis Joseph.

The exhibition opens on Sunday, January 8th, 2023 at Rele Gallery, Lagos.

Photo Credit: @releartsfoundation