all photos courtesy of the artist
A fearless artist who works across painting, sculpture and furniture design—and who has recently experimented with video and time-based installation—Peju Alatise has wed piercing social commentary with technical sophistication to create a prolific and diverse corpus of work. As she has said, “My art is my journey, my commentary is to question the hypocrisy within all societies and my country” (Labidi 2013). For this, she has proved controversial in some circles. While her work has represented Nigeria in its first national pavilion at the 57th Venice Biennale (as one of three artists, along with the male artists Victor Ehikhamenor and Qudus Onikeku), and in that same year (2017) received the prestigious FNB Art Prize at the 10th installment of the Johannesburg Art Fair, there is little published critically on her practice. Nevertheless, Alatise is an artist emerging in international arenas who merits...