Ten artists of Edo descent have created new works for Back to Benin: New Art, Ancient Heritage inspired by the mudfish and restitution theme. They take a contemporary look at the history, culture, symbolism and philosophy of the kingdom of Benin.
Enotie Ogbebor
Enotie Ogbebor (born 1968) is a Nigerian multidisciplinary artist and cultural activist. He lives and works in Benin City, Nigeria. In his work, he connects Benin's heritage with pressing global issues such as migration, the ecological crisis and restitution.
Ogbebor is founder of the Edo Global Art Foundation and Nosona Studios, where more than 800 artists have been trained. He is a leading voice in advocating for the restitution of the Benin Bronzes. He has lectured at the British Museum in London and at Cambridge University, among others. His views have appeared in media such as The New York Times, BBC, DW, Financial Times and CNN.
From 2022 to 2024, he was artist-in-residence at MAA in Cambridge. There, he developed the project From Eden to Ecocide. In 2023, he participated in Perilous Journeys: Reflections on Migration, an exhibition at the British Museum in London.
His work is included in major collections, including those of the British Museum in London and the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam.
Photography: Museum of Archaelogy and Anthropology
Osaru Obaseki
Osaru Obaseki (1993) lives and works in Lagos, Nigeria. Osaru uses painting, sculpture, media and installation to explore themes of materiality, history, cultural identity, social relations and the complexity of colonial and post-colonial narratives. She has her own working method in which she brings together sand/earth and acrylic. Thus, she connects two different times: the ancient and the modern.
Her work also extends to bronze casting and glass casting. In doing so, she uses the rich heritage of these ancient techniques to create innovative, contemporary art forms. Osaru's work has been featured in several exhibitions, including recent ones: Africa Basel, Switzerland (2025); Horniman Museum, UK (2024); Glasstress - Berengo Studios, Murano, Italy (2024); ICCROM General Assembly, Rome (2023); AKKA Project, Venice, Italy (2023); Young Contemporaries, National Museum Lagos, Nigeria (2020); and Re-entanglement Project, Benin, Nigeria (2020).
Photography: Osaru Obaseki
Phil Omodamwen
Phil Omodamwen (1971) is a Nigerian bronze caster from Benin, from the sixth generation of his family. He was born into the Omodamwen family, which belongs to the guild of bronze casters. His family joined this guild in 1504. For more than 500 years, the family has preserved this heritage while bringing important innovation in technology.
Omodamwen is an outspoken advocate for reparations and the return of the Benin Bronzes, which were forcibly taken by the British in 1897. Omodamwen is Creative Fellow of the Making of the Museum project at the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford.
His work has been featured in several exhibitions, including the ongoing exhibition Benin Dues at the Ethnographic Museum of the University of Zurich; In Dialogue with Benin - Art, Colonialism and Restitution at the Rietberg Museum in Zurich (2024); the Ethnologisches Museum in Berlin (2022); and Benin: Looted History, the 2021 exhibition at the MARKK Museum in Hamburg.
Photography: Petrik Wiggers
Minne Atairu
Minne Atairu is an interdisciplinary artist. Her research-based practice focuses on underexposed gaps in Benin's art historical archives. Using AI-driven methods and materials, she weaves historical data into conceptual prototypes. In doing so, she sheds light on both the repatriation and post-repatriation situation of the Benin Bronzes.
Minne has exhibited and performed at venues including Somerset House, London (2025); Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit x The Kitchen, Detroit (2025); RedCat, Los Angeles (2024); The Shed, New York (2023); Frieze, London (2023); Harvard Art Museums, Boston (2022); MARKK Museum, Hamburg (2021); and Fleming Museum of Art, Vermont (2021). Minne received several awards, including the Re:Humanism Art Prize (2025), the S+T+ARTS Prize Africa (2024) and the Lumen Prize for Art and Technology (2021).
Photography: Veenstra Visual
Leo Asemota
Leo Asemota (1967) is a Nigerian contemporary artist. A native of Edo, he lives and works in London and Benin City. Asemota works with photography, film, video, performance, sculpture and drawing. His work explores history, language, sound, time and Benin's cultural heritage, among other things.
An important long-term project by Asemota is The Ens Project (2005-2019). This project was inspired, among other things, by the annual Igue festival of the Edo people, the British looting of the Kingdom of Benin in 1897 and the way artworks are reproduced and disseminated.
His work has been featured in several international exhibitions and projects, including documenta 14, the Sharjah Biennial, Portikus in Frankfurt and Sonsbeek 20→24 in Arnhem.
Photography: Anne Welmer
Favour Jonathan
Favour Jonathan (1996) is a multidisciplinary artist based in London, UK. Her work is rooted in historical research and storytelling. She explores themes of identity, memory and cultural heritage.
Jonathan works mainly with sculpture. In her work, she honours individuals from black African and black British history. Through art in public spaces, she aims to stimulate conversation, memory and connection between different communities.
Jonathan has exhibited at MAGNIN-A, Paris (FR); Royal Academy of Arts, London (UK); National Collection Centre, Coventry (UK); Lagos Biennial, Lagos (NG); Copeland Gallery, London (UK); and Tate (UK), among others. She made public sculpture commissions for the National Collection Centre in Coventry and Black Cultural Archives in Brixton. Her work is also included in the Central Saint Martins Archival Collection in London.
Photography: Favour Jonathan
Taiye Idahor
Taiye Idahor (1984) is a visual artist living and working in Lagos, Nigeria. Her work is multidisciplinary. Her uses include drawing, sculpture and collage, and recently painting and printmaking. In doing so, she explores ideas around women's identity. In her work, she repeatedly uses her as a recognisable visual language.
Taiye Idahor also explores themes of memory, culture, tradition and modernity. In doing so, she looks at how women make their way in the modern world. These interests lead her to make female histories visible. At the same time, she explores her own origins and stories from her native Benin City.
Her work is part of the permanent collections of Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa, Cape Town (ZA), among others; the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa (CA); Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton (US); the Stanley Museum of Art, Iowa City (US); and the Brooklyn Museum, New York (US).
Photography: Taiye Idahor
Osaze Amadasun
Osaze Amadasun (born 1994) is a Nigerian illustrator and designer based in Lagos. He was originally trained as an architect. His multidisciplinary practice includes drawing, painting, illustration and graphic design.
His work is rooted in visual storytelling. It reflects the cultural richness of his surroundings and offers the viewer a glimpse into layered histories. Osaze often explores themes related to the ancient Kingdom of Benin and the changing urban life of Lagos. He uses his art as a form of documentation and reflection.
His work has been shown in several exhibitions in Nigeria and abroad, most recently including the Made in Lagos exhibition at the Musée d'ethnographie de Neuchâtel in Switzerland.
Photography: Agbowó
Victor Ehikhamenor
Victor Ehikhamenor (1970) is a Nigerian multimedia artist, writer and photographer. He lives and works in Maryland, USA, and Lagos, Nigeria. His work links traditional Edo iconography with contemporary abstraction. In doing so, he explores themes of spirituality and memory.
In 2020, Ehikhamenor was National Artist in Residence at the Neon Museum in Las Vegas. In 2016, he was a Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Fellow. His work has been featured in exhibitions worldwide, including the 57th Venice Biennale (2017), Dak'Art Biennale (2016) and Biennale Jogja XIII (2015).
His writings have appeared in The New York Times, Guernica, BBC and CNN, among others. Ehikhamenor is also founder of Angels and Muse, a residency site and thinking lab in Lagos and Benin City, Nigeria. This place was established to support multidisciplinary practices in the fields of art, literature and culture in Africa and the African diaspora.
Photography: Pano Kefalos
Abraham Onoriode Oghobase
Abraham Onoriode Oghobase (1979) is a visual artist living and working in Toronto, Canada. He holds an MFA in Visual Arts from York University in Toronto.
In his photographic practice, he explores themes of knowledge production, land, colonial history and representation. He does this by dissecting traditional ways of making and experimenting with the narrative and material possibilities of images and objects. At the same time, he embraces the power of abstraction and shows new possibilities for meaning and imagination.
Oghobase's work has been shown worldwide, including at the Nigeria Pavilion at the 60th Venice Biennale; the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto (CA); the Museum of Modern Art, New York (USA); Polygon Gallery, Vancouver (CA); and Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg (ZA).
His work is included in the permanent collections of institutions such as MoMA, New York (US); the Art Institute of Chicago (US); Ackland Art Museum, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (US); and the Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, Helsinki (FI).
Photography: Monica Blignaut
