Presented as part of MOA’s new feature exhibition Sankofa: African Routes, Canadian Routes (November 4, 2021 – March 27, 2022), this edition of MOA’s Artists Unscripted series features Nigerian-based artists Peju Layiwola and Victor Ehikhamenor in conversation with exhibition co-curator Titilope Salami. Dig deeper into the two artists’ works featured in the exhibition, and join in conversations around their practice in relation to repatriation as well as the idea of “authentic” African art.

The Artists Unscripted online series focuses on listening and learning from established and emerging artists. They will be sharing some of their current projects and the ideas that make them want to create. Each event will include a live discussion and a Q&A.

Bios

Victor Ehikhamenor is a Nigeria-born multimedia artist, photographer and writer. Throughout his prolific career he has produced abstract, symbolic, politically and historically motivated works. He has exhibited works at numerous exhibitions and biennales including the 57th Venice Biennale (2017). He is the founder of Angels and Muse, a thought laboratory dedicated to promoting and developing contemporary African art and literature in Lagos, Nigeria.

Peju Layiwola is an artist and professor of art history at the University of Lagos and also runs two artist’s platforms in Lagos, Nigeria: Women and Youth Art Foundation and MasterArtClasses. Her research, writing and artistic engagements have consistently engaged themes of artifact pillage, restitution, history, memory and the artistic trajectories of African and diaspora artists. She has published several articles both locally and internationally and had several exhibitions, including her most referenced solo show, Benin 1897.com: Art and the Restitution Question (2010). She is president of the Art Council of the African Studies Association.

Titilope Salami is an artist, curator, and lecturer of visual arts at the University of Lagos, Nigeria. Her group exhibitions include Jubilation (2014), Diversiform (2018), Strength of Women (2019), and On and On (2019), and she participated in the performance Red Day (2017) with Jelili Atiku. Salami is currently conducting her Ph.D. research in the history and policies of West African museums at UBC.