A new group exhibition in Lagos is bringing Nigerian artists from different generations together to examine how ideas, memories, social concerns and visual traditions continue to change across time.
Titled Crosscurrents and Affinities, the exhibition opened to the public on September 13, 2026, at DADA Gallery in Ikoyi and will remain on view until October 31. Curated by Anthony Ogochukwu Agbapuonwu, the show features seven Nigerian artists whose practices range from figurative painting and cultural narratives to abstraction, urban themes and interdisciplinary work.
Seven artists, different generations
The exhibition brings together Nike Davies-Okundaye, Kelechi Chinwendu, Chigozie Obi, Abiodun Olaku, Ayotunde Ojo, Kainebi Osahenye and Kadara Enyeasi.
Their backgrounds and artistic practices differ, but the exhibition places their work within the same physical and curatorial space.
The organisers describe the exhibition as an exploration of continuities and differences within Nigerian artistic practice. Rather than treating generations as completely separate, the show examines how ideas can travel between artists and acquire new meanings in different periods.
Emerging voices alongside established artists
One of the notable aspects of the exhibition is the presence of artists at different stages of their careers.
Chigozie Obi, born in 1997, is among the younger artists represented in the exhibition. Her multidisciplinary practice includes painting, drawing, photography, printmaking and digital illustration.
Her work has focused on themes including identity, community, Igbo culture, women and girls, memory and everyday experiences.
Obi is presenting work from her Dreamscape series as part of the exhibition. The series explores personal experience, memory and emotional worlds.
Her participation places a younger Nigerian artistic voice alongside artists with much longer careers.
Nike Davies-Okundaye brings another generation into the conversation
Veteran Nigerian artist Nike Davies-Okundaye is also part of the exhibition.
Her work in the show includes a collaborative piece created with Tola Wewe during the COVID-19 pandemic. The work draws on Yoruba visual culture and Adire traditions.
Her participation provides a connection to established Nigerian artistic practices while the younger artists in the exhibition introduce different approaches to contemporary life and identity.
The exhibition therefore does not present emerging artists in isolation. Instead, it places their work within a broader history of Nigerian visual art.
Art, memory and identity
Several of the works address questions surrounding identity, memory and the environments in which people live.
Obi’s work examines personal and collective experiences, while other artists approach Nigerian society through urban spaces, cultural references, political concerns and abstraction.
Abiodun Olaku’s Oke Igbala series, for example, addresses waste pollution and urban neglect in Lagos.
Ayotunde Ojo’s work considers how domestic spaces can absorb and reflect the identities of the people who inhabit them.
These different approaches allow the exhibition to move between personal experiences and wider questions about Nigerian society.
Political and social concerns also feature
The exhibition is not limited to traditional portraiture or representations of everyday life.
Kainebi Osahenye’s work explores political unrest and anxiety through multilayered compositions.
Kadara Enyeasi’s Parasomnia series addresses vulnerability and sleep paralysis.
Together, the works demonstrate the range of subjects being explored within contemporary Nigerian art.
The exhibition consequently brings together works that differ in subject, technique and visual language while maintaining an interest in human experience and the conditions surrounding it.
A conversation between generations
The idea behind Crosscurrents and Affinities is reflected in its title.
The exhibition treats Nigerian art as a continuing conversation rather than a sequence of completely separate artistic generations.
The curator’s approach allows established and emerging artists to appear beside one another without suggesting that one generation replaces another.
Instead, their works can be viewed together, allowing audiences to consider similarities, differences and recurring concerns.
Africa Art News described the exhibition as placing seven Nigerian artists from different generations in direct conversation, with ideas and social concerns moving across their different artistic practices.
Lagos continues to host a busy exhibition calendar
The exhibition arrives during an active period for Lagos’s visual-arts scene.
Other exhibitions taking place around the city in September include group and solo presentations at galleries and cultural spaces across Ikoyi, Victoria Island and other parts of Lagos.
Ogirikan Art Gallery, for example, is hosting FOCUS from September 8 to 19, while other exhibitions including The Weight of Traces, Parallel Metaphor and Divine Patterns of the Mind are also listed on the city’s September arts calendar.
CraftVantage is also presenting an ongoing exhibition of emerging Nigerian art at WINGS Office Complex in Victoria Island. The exhibition, which opened September 1, features works from its 2026 cohort and other emerging artists.
The range of exhibitions provides artists with different platforms for reaching collectors, cultural organisations and members of the public.
More opportunities for emerging artists
The growth of exhibition opportunities is also being supported through programmes focused specifically on artist development.
The Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos, began The Synthesis on September 14. The year-long crit-lab and mentoring programme brings together a selected cohort of Nigerian artists, curators and writers for structured study and mentorship.
The programme is scheduled to conclude with a collective exhibition at CCA Lagos.
Such programmes provide a different model from conventional gallery exhibitions because they combine professional development with opportunities to produce and present new work.
A changing Nigerian art scene
The current exhibition activity in Lagos shows several different ways Nigerian artists are being supported and presented.
Some exhibitions focus on established figures, while others create platforms for younger artists. Others, such as Crosscurrents and Affinities, deliberately place artists from different generations in the same exhibition.
This approach allows audiences to encounter Nigerian art through multiple perspectives rather than through a single artistic style or generation.
For emerging artists, appearing alongside more established practitioners can also place their work within a wider discussion about the history and direction of Nigerian contemporary art.
Exhibition continues through October
Crosscurrents and Affinities opened at DADA Gallery on September 13 and is scheduled to remain on view until October 31, 2026.
The exhibition is located on Norman Williams Street in Ikoyi, Lagos.
Its seven participating artists offer different perspectives on culture, identity, memory, politics, urban life and personal experience.
For Lagos audiences interested in contemporary Nigerian visual art, the exhibition provides an opportunity to see established and younger artistic voices presented within one curatorial framework.
More broadly, the exhibition reflects an increasingly varied Lagos arts scene in which emerging artists are gaining platforms while remaining connected to the country’s longer visual-art traditions.
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