EBONY/CURATED |The Flowers on the Crown of the King

EBONY/CURATED is pleased to present ‘The Flowers on the Crown of the King’, a showcase of new works by contemporary Yoruba artist Wole Lagunju. Lagunju is a contemporary Yoruba artist whose creative practice critiques the racial and social structures of the 19th century whilst evoking contemporary commentaries on power, femininity, and womanhood. His work is associated with Onaism, an art movement of the Ife Art School dedicated to reimagining the forms and philosophies of traditional Yoruba art and design. He often pairs this influence with a clash of diverse cultura notions exploring post-colonial hierarchies and hybridisation from the African continent.

“My paintings of Yoruba Gelede masks juxtaposed with classical and iconic Western imagery explore the notions of race, femininity, womanhood and sexuality. They are also meant to be contemporary redefinitions of tradition Yoruba visual art. Gelede (Ge means to ‘pet or tenderly deal with’; ele refers to a woman’s genitalia and de, ‘to soften them with gentleness’) is a male dance by which men celebrate women, their physical attributes, sacred powers and motherhood. I have chosen, therefore, to celebrate the masks by making visual compositions of ‘new’ Gelede masquerades dressed in the ceremonial regalia of the Western world. In doing this, I mean to critique, racial and cultural stereotypes and ideology. These are values and stereotypes that generate assumptions of a dominant cultural prerogative and singular historical perspective within issues of power, gender, and identity.” - Wole Lagunju

“Key take aways from Lagunju’s current body of work is that the artist walks us through time and locations while giving nods to traditions both symbolic and the psychedelic. Lagunju privileges figures (male and female youths fashion (sartorial choices), flowers, and enriches his compositions with snippets of the Yoruba culture, and other cultural ethos. Ideas from his encounters are recycled, reclaimed, and reimagined in refreshing ways. The artist’s commitment to speaking to the local and the global, the personal and the collective experiences is also reaffirmed.” - Professor Adérónké Adésànyà, James Madison University, USA

This show from from 5 February to 8 March 2025.