The solo exhibition ‘Wolof/Jollof’ by the Nigerian-born sculptor, Folakunle Oshun, will show at the National Museum, Onikan, Lagos. To hold from December 6 to 13, it is curated by Inis Valle.
The exhibition, the organisers said, will share with Nigerians several stories and tastes that emerge from one of the most beloved Nigerian dishes the ‘Jollof Rice’ by sharing the most recent collaborative work by the artist.
“This exhibition, which explores the popularity and migratory controversy of this culinary dish, consists of a huge outdoor art installation of 70 unique three-legged cooking pots mounted on wheels; some of which will be used to cook Jollof recipes from across West African nations and given to guests to taste,” the statement explained.
Oshun and Valle will be travelling through the West African coast, tracing the route and the recipes’ variations that this dish entails by investigating the multi-layer socio-local stories of this migrant dish.
The journey will take them to Benin, Togo, Ghana, Liberia, Mali, Gambia and finally Senegal, where the original Thiebou Denn recipe is made by the Wolof tribe. The project is expected to culminate with a publication.
This is the first solo exhibition of the sculptor and curator, Oshun, who holds a bachelor of arts degree in visual art from the University of Lagos in 2007, and a master’s degree in art history from the same institution in 2012. He was a curatorial fellow at the African Artists’ Foundation (AAF) in 2013, recently was curator-in-residence at ZK/U Berlin, Savvy Contemporary and Gallery Wedding where he undertook the art project ‘Mending Histories that Challenges the Contextualisation of African Art in Western Museums’.
Valle is an independent curator and art critic that shuttles between Europe and Africa. With a BA in visual arts and a MA curatorial studies both from the Faculty of Fine Arts University of Lisbon and has been collaborating with several artists, curators and leading art institutions across the world.
