Yinka Shonibare CBE
Yinka Shonibare was born in London, UK in 1962 and grew up in the UK and Lagos, Nigeria. He studied at the Byam Shaw School of Art, London in the 1980s and graduated from Goldsmiths College in 1991.
Over the past decade, he has become well known for his exploration of colonialism and post-colonialism within the contemporary context of globalization. Working in painting, sculpture, photography, film and installation, Shonibare’s work examines race, class and the construction of cultural identity through sharp political commentary of the tangled interrelationship between Africa and Europe and their respective economic and political histories.
In 2004, he was awarded the decoration of Member of the ‘Most Excellent Order of the British Empire’ (MBE) and was also nominated for the Turner Prize.
He has participated in many international exhibitions including Documenta 11, Kassel in 2002 and the 52nd Venice Biennale in 2007. In September 2008, his major mid-career survey commenced at the MCA Sydney and then toured to the Brooklyn Museum, New York and the Museum of African Art at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC. His public art commission, Nelson’s Ship in a Bottle opened on the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square in 2010. In 2013 he was nominated as a Royal Academician.
Selected solo exhibitions include Gemeentmuseum Helmond, The Netherlands and Turner Contemporary, Margate, UK (2016); Daegu Art Museum, Daegu, South Korea and DHC/ART Fondation for l’Art Contemporain, Montréal, Montreal (2015); Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield, UK (2013); Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Texas, USA (2013); San Diego Art Museum, San Diego, USA (2012); MCA Sydney, Sydney and the Brooklyn Museum, New York (2008) among others.
Aduke Gomez
Aduke utilises her legal and advisory skills to assist in business and creative development. Commencing her career in legal practice with the law firm of Udo Udoma & Belo-Osagie, she later worked for many years in various leadership roles within Ecobank Nigeria Ltd and Leadway Pensure PFA. Aduke was appointed to the Governor Fashola Administration of Lagos State in the role of Senior Special Assistant/Secretary to the Lagos State Hotel Licensing Authority in 2011. She was also appointed to serve as a member of the Lagos State History Committee and as a member of the Lagos Carnival Committee, where she headed the Junior Carnival Sub-Committee responsible for the participation of 2000 school children.
University, The Institute of Africa and Diaspora Studies at the University of Lagos, the Lagos State Record and Archive Bureau, the annual conference of the Lagos Studies Association, the Ake Festival and the Lagos Book
and Art Festival(LABAF) amongst others.
Aduke’s published collection of poems was featured as a festival book for both the LABAF 2017 and the Ake Festival 2017. Her children’s book “Lost And Found In Lagos” – a collaboration with Biola Alabi Media was selected as one of Channels TV Book Club Top Twenty Books for 2019. Her recent poetry collection “Attending My Own Wake & Other Episodes” was published by Bookcraft Africa in March 2021 and was featured at the 2021 Goethe Institute Nigeria Digital Conference on Mental Health and Art Therapy. Her newest children’s picture book, “The Silver Magic Cooking Pot” is featured at the 2022 edition of LABAF.
She is currently the Chair of the Steering Committee of Art4Life – an initiative of the Lagos State Ministry of Health established to introduce art and the practice of art into the entire healthcare process. She is a member of the Advisory Board of Open House Lagos as well as the Advisory Board of Lagos Biennial. She volunteers on the Board of Child Life Line – an NGO established for the welfare of street children.
N'Goné Fall
N’Goné Fall is an independent curator and cultural policies specialist. She graduated with distinction from the École Spéciale d’Architecture in Paris. She has been the editorial director of the contemporary African art magazine Revue Noire (1994 – 2001). She curated exhibitions in Africa, Europe and the USA. She was a guest curator of the Bamako and Dakar biennales respectively in 2001 and 2002. She is the author of strategic plans and evaluation reports for national and international institutions. She has been a visiting professor at the Senghor University in Alexandria, Egypt; lecturer at the Michaelis School of Arts in Cape Town, South Africa; and the Abdou Moumouni University of Niamey in Niger. In 2018, N’Goné Fall has been appointed by the French President Emmanuel Macron General Commissioner of the Africa2020 Season, a series of more than 1,500 cultural, scientific and pedagogical events all over France from December 2020 to September 2021.
Michèle Sandoz
Michèle Sandoz has led various international initiatives in the artworld over the past two decades. She is currently spearheading the Art Initiative of the Foundation for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), building a platform that bridges art and humanity. Prior to that, she held the position of Global Head of VIP Relations at Art Basel for almost a decade, where she was responsible for the global VIP strategy, the conceptualization of new business initiatives and the cultivation of the world’s foremost art patrons. Before joining Art Basel, she was General Manager and Deputy Director at Christie’s in Zurich with a focus on developing the Asian market. Furthermore, Michèle headed the department of Asian Art at Koller Auctions in Zurich and developed the contemporary Latin American art holding at Daros Collection. Michèle studied Chinese and Japanese art history and Chinese language and culture at the University of Zurich and the Beijing Language and Cultural University. She sits on several advisory boards, such as the Lagos Biennial and the Art Market Studies at the University of Zurich (EMAMS), and serves as member of the Global Council of Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (ZEITZ MOCAA) in Cape Town. In addition, she co-chairs the Friends of the Swiss Institute New York, and is a founding member of inclusion360, an association advancing social inclusion in Zurich. Furthermore, she advises international institutions with her consultant agency Art Matters. Born in Harare, Zimbabwe, has lived in Niamey, Beijing, Taipei and is currently based in Zurich.
Eva Maria Ocherbauer
Eva Maria Ocherbauer is an Austrian born photographer, curator and lecturer living in Berlin. She studied Scenery at the “Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst” in Graz, Austria and performed as a dancer and actress before joining the “Werkstatt für Photography VHS Kreuzberg” in Berlin, Germany to get trained as a photographer. Her photographs had been featured internationally in numerous solo and group exhibitions, including “Kreuzberg – Amerika“ CIO Berlin, 2016 / “Geniale Dilletanten” Haus der Kunst, München, 2015, “Röcke Tragen” Museum der Moderne, Salzburg, 2012 / “Milk Drop Coronet” Camera Austria Graz, 2010 / “The Park” Galerie September Berlin 2010, ““BauhausBarokoko” Chartgallery Art Basel, 2007 / “Simultan” Museum der Moderne Salzburg, 2005 / “City Pity” DAAD Galerie Berlin, 2000 / “Fotografie Des Unsichtbaren” Museum Abteiberg Mönchengladbach – Kunsthalle Krems – Fotomuseum Winterthur, 1997, “StadtPark Eins” Photofestival Houston, 1993. Publications including “Berlin West” self-publshed 2016 / “FICTION” Superlabo, Japan, 2013 / “One Day / Ten Photographers” Kehrer Verlag Heidelberg, 2010 / “la vie et la mort” Fotohof edition Salzburg, 2005 / “Das Kräuterufo” Martin Schmitz Verlag Kassel, 1995 / “STILL ALIVE” Edition Camera Austria Graz, 1993 / “Louvre Boutique” Edition Künstlerhaus Bethanien Berlin, 1989 / “Berliner Designhandbuch” Merve Verlag Berlin, 1987. Her first collaboration with institutions on the African continent started in 2010 with “Watching You, Watching Me” an exchange project Berlin/Addis Ababa, in partnership with Aida Muluneh. After “Crossing Compasses” in 2012 in partnership with the Yaba College of Technology and the Goethe-Institute Lagos she established in 2013 the LagosPhoto Summer School in cooperation with the African Artist’ Foundation. In 2016 she founded the FotoFactory.Lagos, a teaching programme aimed at young Nigerian photographers who are interested in developing their skills and careers. FotoFactory.Lagos is jointly designed with Sylvester Okwunodu Ogbechie and supported by The Femi Akinsanya African Art Collection and Aachron Incorporated.
Oliver Enwonwu
Oliver Enwonwu, the Director of Omenka Gallery, is the youngest son of the pioneering modernist artist, Ben Enwonwu. He is an artist, curator, art administrator, writer and illustrator. Enwonwu has exhibited extensively and curated many shows all over the world. He is the president, Society of Nigerian Artists. He is the founder, executive director, and a trustee of The Ben Enwonwu Foundation and sits on the board of several organizations including the National Gallery of Art, Nigeria, and the Reproduction Rights Society of Nigeria. Enwonwu is also the founder and editor, Omenka magazine.
