Episode Forty-Six features Wole Lagunju. He is a 1986 graduate of Fine arts and graphic design at the University of Ife, now Obafemi
Awolowo University, Nigeria. Lagunju’s hybrid paintings of traditional Gelede masks which are
juxtaposed with images of the modern woman in the Western world redefine the forms and
philosophies of Yoruba visual art and design. He reimagines and transforms cultural icons appropriated
from the Dutch Golden, Elizabethan as well as the fifties and sixties, Euro-American eras. Lagunju’s
cultural references, mined from the eras of colonization and decolonization of the African continent
critique the racial and social structures of the 19th century whilst evoking commentaries on power,
femininity and womanhood. Wole Lagunju has exhibited widely in Nigeria, United States, Trinidad and
Germany. Recent exhibitions include: Yoruba Remixed, Ebonycurated Gallery, Cape Town (Solo
Exhibition) 2018, Wole Lagunju: African Diaspora Artist and Transnational Visuality, James Madison
University, Harrisonburg, Virginia (Solo Exhibition) 2014, Womanscape: Race, Gender and Sexuality in
African Art, University of Texas, Austin Texas, 2011. Wole was awarded a Phillip Ravenhill Fellowship by
the UCLA in 2006 and a Pollock Krasner award in 2009. He lives in the United States.
Photo credit Tony Hegwood
http://www.wolelagunju.com/
https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-art-advisors-guide-collecting-londons-fair-week
https://thecuratormag.com/wole-lagunjus/
https://thecuratormag.com/painting-back-to-the-empire/
https://www.christiesrealestate.com/blog/5-contemporary-african-artists-to-know-about-now/
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.forbes.com/sites/joanneshurvell/2020/10/09/1-54-contemporary-african-art-fair--the-only-international-art-fair-to-open-in-london-this-autumn/amp/
https://www.contemporaryand.com/exhibition/wole-lagunju-we-all-live-here/
https://mailchi.mp/ec036343e8da/the-debrief-september-issue-wole-lagunju
