Attending the Opening of Nigerian Modernism at Tate

I had the privilege of attending the opening ceremony of Nigerian Modernism at Tate—an exhibition of historic significance that centres Nigeria alone, rather than grouping it into broad continental narratives. It is a landmark moment for the acknowledgement of Nigeria’s singular artistic legacy and the intellectual, cultural and political forces that shaped its modernist movement in the 20th century.

The evening itself reflected that legacy. In attendance were some of the artists and cultural titans who shaped and inherited this history, including Muraina Oyelami, Yinka Shonibare, Bruce Onobrakpeya, Jimoh Buraimoh, Isaac Emokpae (son of Erhabor Emokpae), and Nike Davies-Okundaye, among others. Their presence underscored the intergenerational continuity of Nigerian art—where surviving modernists, their descendants and their students coexist in dialogue.

Nike Davies Okundaye and myself in front of her Adire works

The Rise of Nigerian Modernism

Before the modernist era, visual expression in Nigeria—whether sculptural, textile, carved or ceremonial—was deeply embedded in function. Art lived in the shrine, the courtyard, the body, the homestead. It served lineage, ritual, storytelling, and cosmology. The shift towards “art for art’s sake,” art created for exhibition, discourse or market circulation, was driven by new encounters with Western modernism and evolving postcolonial identities.

Artists like Ben Enwonwu were pivotal to this shift. Enwonwu studied at the Slade School of Fine Art in London and at Goldsmiths, University of London. His international education informed a new visual language—infusing Igbo aesthetics with the abstraction, portraiture and sculptural techniques of Western art schools. His career helped birth a distinctly Nigerian modernist sensibility that was neither derivative nor folkloric, but cosmopolitan, intellectual and self-determined.

In the exhibition room that housed Ben Enwonwu’s works

At the same time, figures like Susanne Wenger, who moved to Nigeria in the late 1940s, played a key role from another direction. While she is widely known for her involvement with the Osogbo Sacred Grove and the promotion of adire textiles, her teaching and collaborations brought global modernist ethos—experimentation, symbolism, individual authorship—into dialogue with Yoruba traditions. Wenger was part of a wider network of artists, educators and thinkers who helped local artists both reclaim and reinvent their cultural forms within a modern framework.

With Gerald CHUKWUMA in front of Susanne Wenger’s large scale adire piece

Networks That Shaped a Movement

The exhibition acknowledges the collective engines behind Nigerian modernism:

• The Zaria Art Society, also known as the “Zaria Rebels,” where artists like Yusuf Grillo, Uche Okeke, Bruce Onobrakpeya and Demas Nwoko argued for “Natural Synthesis”—a balance of indigenous aesthetics and modern training.

• Mbari Artists’ and Writers’ Club in Ibadan, where painters, sculptors, writers and musicians created an interdisciplinary hub for postcolonial expression.

• Artists of Osogbo, including names like Twin Seven Seven and other “Neo-Traditionalists,” who carved out new idioms rooted in Yoruba visual culture.

• Regional practices from Ibadan, Lagos, Enugu and beyond, whose concerns resonated with international movements from Paris to Munich and London.

Exhibition Highlights

Rather than opting for a chronological timeline, Tate has organised the show thematically, allowing connections across regions, media and ideologies to emerge organically. This structure places equal weight on artists who remained in Nigeria and those who trained or exhibited abroad, revealing the multilayered fabric of the movement.

The exhibition also acknowledges the vital role of photography in shaping Nigeria’s modern visual identity. Among the highlights is the work of J.D. ’Okhai Ojeikere, whose iconic photographic studies of Nigerian hairstyles document not only aesthetic innovation but evolving expressions of identity, femininity and cultural memory in the postcolonial era. His images sit comfortably within the modernist conversation, demonstrating how form, craft and tradition became subjects of contemporary visual inquiry.

Photography by J.D. Okhai Ojeikere

Notable works throughout the show include pieces by:

• Ben Enwonwu

• Twin Seven Seven

• Bruce Onobrakpeya

• Members of the Zaria Society

• Artists associated with Mbari and Osogbo workshops

• The Oron artists

• J.D. ’Okhai Ojeikere, whose photography expands the definition of modernism beyond paint and sculpture

The curatorial framing allows each section to illuminate how Nigerian artists negotiated identity, independence, spirituality, cosmopolitanism and experimentation in a world still shaped by colonial residues and emerging national consciousness.

A Living Legacy

One of the most powerful aspects of the opening night was the sense of continuity. Many of the artists whose works are on display are still with us, while others were represented by their children or grandchildren. The intergenerational attendance was a form of living archive—embodied memory meeting institutional recognition.

Nigerian Modernism is more than an exhibition; it is a long-awaited acknowledgment of a movement that reshaped modernism on its own terms, far beyond Euro-American art histories. It celebrates not only the works created in post-independence Nigeria but the intellectual and artistic agency that made them possible.

To witness the artists and their legacies gathered under one roof, in a space that honours Nigeria alone, is both historic and deeply affirming.