Modupeola Fadugba

A conversation with Lagos-based artist Modupeola Fadugba, whose multidisciplinary practice spans installation, painting, film, and social engagement. Modupeola's work often explores subjects of race and pedagogy, as seen in her acclaimed 'Synchronized Swimmers' series and her Emmy-winning documentary on the all-Black senior synchronised swimming group, the Harlem Honeys and Bears. Modupeola's latest exhibition ‘Of Movement, Materials and Methods’ — on view at Gallery 1957 in London until June 29 — draws on her research into the Ojude Oba Festival in Ijebu Ode, Nigeria. The show marks a vibrant shift in her palette and incorporates intricate beading techniques she first encountered while interning with Maasai beadworkers in Tanzania during school holidays. Alayo and Modupeola discuss the Nigerian education system, the symbolic power of swimming in Modupeola's work and the influence of artists such as Nike Davies-Okundaye.

This special season focuses on the themes which are at the heart of Alayo’s upcoming book, Reframing Blackness: What’s Black About History of Art?, which unpacks the relationship between Blackness and “Western” art history through the lenses of: Museums, the curriculum, feminist art movements, muses and exhibitions. In this season Alayo will speak to artists who re-think, reposition and reframe Blackness and Black figures in this context.

Pre-Order Reframing Blackness here.

Keep up with us:

Modupeola Fadugba: @modupeola.fadugba

Alayo Akinkugbe: @ablackhistoryofart @alayoakinkugbe