Ade Adekola

Ade Adekola is a Nigerian born conceptual artist, photographer and architect. He is a seasoned documenter and keen cultural observer.

Adekola makes artworks in series and as ‘think pieces’. His works often poses philosophical questions, seeking to tease the mind; they raise questions about the boundaries between individual identity and collective experiences, exploring in between the fracture lines of cultural convergence.

His work is filled with colours and movement, cultural iconology and coveted humour. He actively makes use of technology in his process of creation, both as statement and tool, to achieve specific visuals effects and also to reinforce the social and intellectual narrative of the work.

The use of technology to manipulate the image hints at the other technological advance that is at the core of the work: the world-wide-web. The pervasiveness of the Internet and the new communities that are created within it, are forging new spaces of cultural engagement. Side by side, the local and the global cohabitate and jointly work to give rise to an "alternate” - distinct but not set apart from local traditions or historical interpretations.

Adekola’s work creates a highly contemporary counterpoint when juxtaposed against ethnographic / anthropological imagery typically shown of Africa; his works redefine Nigerian imagery and photography.

Ade lives and works in Lagos.