…Marks Ijeoma Umebinyuo’s curatorial debut
Once again, 202 Gallery by Artsplit, an innovative and new art gallery, is opening its doors to art lovers, collectors and the general public to an enthralling exhibition at its prime location at #11B Murtala Muhammed Drive, Ikoyi, Lagos.
Titled ‘Daughters With Wings”, the exhibition opens at the gallery on May 10, 2025 and runs until July 26, 2025, featuring works across painting, drawings, and mixed media installations.
The powerful group exhibition brings together seven Nigerian women artists living and working in the country.
They include: Adaoma Nnabeze, Chinaza Nkemka, Titilola Fagbemi, Hannatu Ageni-Yusuf, Victoria Makinde, Ashiata Shaibu and Goodness Nnabeze.
The all-female art exhibition features three works from each of the eight artists, amid a showcase of creativity by all.
Hannatu Ageni-Yusuf, excites with her works depicting African woman and her hair, while passing a message of being confident as an African. The well-travelled artist drew inspiration from her encounters while studying at different universities in the UK and how foreigners wished they could have the African hair texture and type.
Yet, Chinaza Nkemka, a History graduate of Imo State University, takes the viewers to her inner thoughts with her works around swimming and water.
The 25-year-old uses her works, from her personal experience, to challenge others to step out to a new world.
Of course, the exhibition is probably the first in recent times to showcase two sisters; Adaoma Nnabeze and Goodness Nnabeze, who are both Fine Art graduates of University of Nigeria Nsukka. But the 23-year-old Goodness, the younger sister and the youngest artists at the exhibition, seems to come more prepared as her works on line, with impact from her mastery of the Uli concept at Nsukka, are delightful on display.
Moreover, it also marks the curatorial debut of Ijeoma Umebinyuo, a celebrated Nigerian poet and cultural thinker.
Rooted in Umebinyuo’s lifelong advocacy and intellectual practice, Daughters With Wings continues the dialogue she began in ‘Dismantling the Culture of Silence’, her widely acclaimed TEDx talk and ‘Questions for Ada’, her seminal poetry collection.
Known for her contributions to womanist literature and praised by National NOW as an important voice in global feminist discourse, Umebinyuo now turns to visual art as a medium of resistance and reflection.
The exhibition centers on the radical act of bearing witness through art. In a landscape where the creative voices of West African women are often marginalized or overlooked, Daughters With Wings celebrates their work with the visibility and reverence it deserves. Through painting, drawings, and mixed media installations, the featured artists navigate personal and collective histories, confronting systems of patriarchy while asserting agency and voice.
Daughters With Wings asks vital questions: How are women in Nigeria resisting through their art? How is their work being supported, seen, and sustained? What does it mean to be a daughter—of lineage, of culture, of resistance—and how does that shape creative expression today?
Again, the timely exhibition stands as a cultural timestamp and a space for contemplation, offering art not as a plea for validation, but as a firm declaration of presence, resilience, and transformation. Each work contributes to the dismantling of silence, building a chorus that is both intimate and global in its resonance.
With all these going for the exhibition, Majid Biggar, curator, 202 Gallery by Artsplit, urges all to visit in order to experience the dynamic celebration of identity, storytelling, and the undeniable force of Nigerian women artists.
