Auto-Ethnographic Study

This project began with a single question: What defines Nigerian art? It was a question that emerged after a commissioned painting for my aunt was met with the comment that it didn’t feel “Nigerian enough.” That moment sparked a deeply personal, auto-ethnographic journey into the relationship between identity, culture, and creative expression.

Structured in three series, this body of work explores the layered dynamics of growing up in a French-speaking Nigerian context, later shaped by migration and life in Canada. Series 1 examines home, faith, and cultural heritage—focusing on themes like family, scripture, and innovation as rooted expressions of Nigerian identity. Series 2 reflects the influence of Western abstraction and artistic freedom. Inspired by artists like de Kooning, Malevich, and Rauschenberg, these works abandon strict frameworks and instead explore spontaneity, play, and intuitive mark-making. Series 3 unites the two, anchored in the love of my parents—a force that has remained constant across every phase of life and art. Through a mix of real garments, symbolic textures, and expressive form, the final work becomes a personal tribute and emotional synthesis.

Across all three series, this project blends critical reflection, material experimentation, and lived memory—offering a textured response to what Nigerian art can look like when filtered through a hybrid, evolving identity.