A Presentation of New Mixed-Media Works and Hands-on Book Sculpture Workshop Led by Adeyinka Akingbade
Lagos-based artist Adeyinka Akingbade, whose practice is concerned with the repurposing of materials, spent four weeks at G.A.S. Lagos until late July. During his time, he focused on developing and expanding his ongoing body of work Exodus, which looks at migration within the context of Nigeria’s security crisis, with a focus on schoolchildren who have been kidnapped. He visited various artisans, wood carvers and sawmills, and spoke with industry experts to develop the work further. Throughout the residency, Intern Kamael Kirkland who just us from our partnership with Spelman College and the Atlanta University Center Art History + Curatorial Studies Collective (AUC Collective) supported Adeyinka with research and planning, helping to facilitate his visits and connections as the project developed.
At the end of his residency, Adeyinka presented a showcase of these works. The event opened with a private preview on 22 July, hosted by Adeyinka’s residency funder, Bloom Art Lagos, and G.A.S. Trustee Ugoma Ebilah, bringing together friends, artists, patrons, funders and people with genuine curiosity about the work. G.A.S. Director Moni Aisida spoke about working with Adeyinka throughout the residency, while Ugoma reflected on the wider importance of supporting artists through residencies and the ecosystems that allow their practices to develop.
Adeyinka then spoke about the beginnings of Exodus, which emerged from his experience of divorce, and how the work has since expanded to consider migration within the context of Nigeria’s security crisis and the experiences of schoolchildren who have been kidnapped. He also introduced the materials that form the works: books, metal, wood and school uniform fabric encased in resin. Within this context, books refer to children who should be in classrooms, their pages holding interrupted lessons. Metal evokes the gates that could not keep them safe, while wood recalls empty desks, abandoned homes and trees left standing in silent villages. Faded and torn school uniform fabric speaks to the children whose presence is now missing, while the resin makes the fabric difficult to see through, reflecting the difficulty of finding those who have been taken.
The following day, 23rd July, the showcase opened to the public. Visitors viewed the works in small groups, with Adeyinka leading them through the presentation and responding to questions. This was followed by a book-sculpting workshop, where Adeyinka demonstrated how to use water and glue to soften and shape discarded books. Participants then soaked, folded and twisted the pages to create their own sculptural forms, working with the themes of Exodus in mind.
The showcase concluded on 7th August with a final tour and screening of process videos documenting Adeyinka’s visits to artisans and his process of sourcing materials, followed by an open conversation.
Event Details
Date: 23rd July - 7th August, 2026
Time: 10:00am - 6:00pm
Location: 9b, Hakeem Dickson Drive, off T.F. Kuboye Road, Oniru, Lagos
About the Artist
Adeyinka Akingbade
Adeyinka Akingbade is an award-winning painter, photographer, and graphic designer. He participated in the 2010 CCA Lagos residency program Independence and the Ambivalence of Promise and won first prize at the 2011 Lagos Black Heritage Festival’s Walls of Prison into Fields of Freedom competition. His experimental photography appeared in German magazine BORRIOLAH-GHA he exhibited at the 25th Annual Festival of the Arts in Chicago in 2014. Akingbade undertook a 6-week residency in Sweden in 2016 and participated in ArtX Lagos in 2019 with Bloom Art Gallery. Collaborated with Peju Alatise on Alasiri: Doors for Concealment or Revelation at the 2021 Venice Biennale Architecture Exhibition, and again on 12 Seasons of Silifat at Nike Art Gallery in 2023. In 2021 he was selected among the top portrait artists for PORTRETO: Strokes of Expression, an international virtual group show curated by Neeraji Mittra. His work is held in private collections in Nigeria and abroad.
Photo of Adeyinka Akingbade.
Adeyinka's residency is generously supported by Bloom Art Lagos and G.A.S. Trustee Ugoma Ebilah.
