In December 2024, the G.A.S. Foundation, in partnership with the Yinka Shonibare Foundation, announced the call for the third edition of the G.A.S. Fellowship Award. This year, the award offered two fully-funded six-week residencies at G.A.S. Lagos for outstanding mid-career professionals based in Africa: one for a mid-career visual fine artist and one for a mid-career curator.

The call received over 130 applications from 18 countries across the continent. The selection panel, who carefully reviewed each submission, was impressed by the wealth of talent, as well as the quality and diversity of artistic practices represented. The 2025 Fellows are Shatha Afify, an Egypt-based interdisciplinary artist, storyteller, poet, and thinker, selected as the Visual Arts Fellow, and Dr Tinashe Mushakavanhu, a Zimbabwe-based curator and writer, selected as the Curatorial Fellow. During their residencies, Afify will focus on supporting emerging local talent, while Dr. Mushakavanhu will develop and present a curatorial exhibition.

The G.A.S. Fellowship Award 2025 is made possible through the generous support of Deutsche Bank.

UK-based artist Joy Labinjo will undertake a four-week residency at G.A.S. Foundation in Lagos this April. Known for her dynamic large-scale figurative paintings, Labinjo’s work draws from personal and archival imagery to explore themes of identity, race, history, and community. Blending bold color palettes, intricate patterns, and layered compositions, her paintings reimagine historical and contemporary life, often centering on intimate domestic and social scenes. Her practice reflects an ongoing engagement with storytelling, political narratives, and the complexities of diasporic identity.

This April, G.A.S. is delighted to welcome Aisha Olamide Seriki, a London-based Nigerian multidisciplinary artist whose practice spans fine art photography, sculpture, bronze, and woodwork. During her four-week residency at G.A.S. Lagos, Aisha will deepen her research into Yoruba material culture through extensive fieldwork, archival exploration, and artisanal collaborations. Her work interrogates the camera’s colonial history as a vessel of objectivity. Her practice centers spiritual-material entanglements, emphasising ancestral technologies, Black temporalities, and non-linear memory.

On April 3rd, 2025, G.A.S. Lagos hosted Young Artist's Salon, a group critique session facilitated by Gaia Ozwyn. Drawing from her own experience in art school, Gaia understands how pivotal critique sessions can be in shaping an artist’s practice. Acknowledging that many emerging artists in Lagos lack access to structured, supportive environments for feedback, she was inspired to create a space that encourages dialogue, reflection, and collective learning. Ahead of the session, Gaia put up a call for Lagos-based visual fine artists interested in presenting their work for critique. From the submissions, four artists were selected: Mariam Olubunmi Aliyu, Afolabi Atiye, Fikayo Adebajo, and Charles Ola. Each artist was invited to present their work live and receive feedback from fellow artists and industry professionals.

Last week, we welcomed multidisciplinary artist and photographer Rachel Anyo for a six-week residency at G.A.S. Lagos. Based in Israel, Rachel’s practice spans installation, photography, and textile arts, exploring identity, femininity, and cultural heritage. Blending traditional Ethiopian weaving techniques with digital collage and photography, she creates layered visual compositions that reinterpret personal and collective histories, challenging conventional narratives of belonging and representation.