Intersecting Trajectories: Women’s Art in Nigeria. A lecture and discussion with Prof. Peju Layiwola

Peju Layiwola comes from a strong tradition of art making, taking advantage of her dual heritage of Yoruba and Edo. Her mother, Princess Elizabeth Olowu, daughter of Oba Akenzua II, King of Benin, became renowned as the first female to cast bronze in Nigeria. In her presentation, Peju Layiwola will be discussing how her artistic trajectory connects with that of her mother. She will also speak about how the rich cultural traditions of Benin City, Nigeria, continue to impact their art. 

Peju Layiwola is an artist and professor at the Department of Creative Arts, University of Lagos, Nigeria. She has published widely on the visual culture of Nigeria and beyond. Her artistic practice covers a variety of media focusing on both personal and communal histories as it relates to Benin. Her most celebrated projects, Benin1897.com: Art and the Restitution Question (2010) and Whose Centenary? (2015) explore printmaking, sculpture, mixed media and performance art. Currently, Layiwola holds a Goethe artist residency at Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen in Düsseldorf.

The lecture is followed by a discussion, which will also be held in English.

The event cooperatively organized by AfricAvenir International e.V. and Hopscotch Reading Room.

The lecture is part of the campaign “No Humboldt 21!” that supports critical interventions in the debate about the Berliner Schloss/Humboldt-Forum.
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Funded by Bread for the World, Engagement Global with financial support of the Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development.