AYOBOLA KEKERE-EKUN

b. 1993, Lagos, Nigeria
Lives and works in Nigeria

BIOGRAPHY

Ayobola Kekere-Ekun was born in Lagos, Nigeria in 1993. She received her B.A. and M.A. in Visual Arts from the Department of Creative Arts, University of Lagos; where she majored in Graphic Design. She is also a graduate assistant at the Department of Creative Arts, University of Lagos. Her work explores subjects connected to gender, mythology, power and the human condition in a multi-layered way; creating work through labor-intensive processes. Ayobola works predominantly with a technique known as quilling, in which strips of paper are individually shaped to create forms. She tends to quill with a variety of materials. Ayobola views the technique as a three-dimensional manifestation of lines, creating pockets of light and shadow.

For her, the intricacy of her work is a visual metaphor of the complexity of the subject matter she engages with. Her artistic practice is heavily informed by personal experiences and observations. In her recent works, she is particularly interested in exploring the subtle interplay of knowledge gender, power and social structures in contemporary society. Her “knowledge” series explores the transient nature of information in contemporary times. Using printed material as a tangible visual symbol, the idea of knowledge is presented as an organic life form which is birthed, grows, evolves, stagnates, transforms and dies. However, new technologies and an ever shrinking global village have compressed and accelerated these processes throwing up a number of "mutations" in the process. The series seeks to examine how contemporary society interfaces with this phenomenon in connection to issues such as collective and individual memory, as well as social and political climates.


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