What Stood Out at ART X Lagos 2026

Part of the pleasure of returning to ART X Lagos each year is the promise of discovery: new artists, unfamiliar perspectives, always something exhilarating to behold. The fair’s eleventh edition did not disappoint. After last year’s tenth-anniversary celebrations, it opened a new chapter under the theme “A New Chapter, A New Decade”, bringing a sense of renewal and a fresh direction. There was no shortage of things to take in. Across its booths, exhibitions and presentations, this year’s edition ranged from sculptural installations and visually striking works to celebrations of legacy.

One of the curatorial threads running through the fair was its engagement with pioneering generations of artists and educators. The approach sparked some debate, particularly over whether it left enough room for emerging and younger voices, but it also opened up conversations about the legacies that continue to shape contemporary Nigerian art.

Beyond the exhibitions, several moments made this edition memorable, from the VIP after-party at VICI following the opening ceremony to the annual student visits, which have become an important part of ART X Lagos’ efforts to introduce younger audiences to contemporary art. There was a packed programme of ART X Talks and a particularly engaging edition of ART X Cinema, which marked 100 years of Nigerian cinema with a lecture-performance by the historian and curator Ed Keazor. ART X Live! brought together music, art and performance across genres and languages.

This year’s edition offered plenty to discover, question and celebrate. Here are the highlights that stood out.

ART X ICON: Ladi Kwali: Beyond the Vessel

Coming after Tate Modern’s Nigerian Modernism exhibition, this felt like a homecoming. Presented as the ART X ICON exhibition and sponsored by Zenith Bank, Ladi Kwali: Beyond the Vessel honoured the extraordinary legacy of the pioneering Nigerian potter Ladi Dosei Kwali (1925–1984). Curated by Dr Jareh Das, the exhibition did more than spotlight her mastery. It also turned attention to the women potters and traditions that shaped her legacy, among them Kande Ushafa, Asibi Ido, Lami Toto and Halima Audu. Through ceramics, archival material and works by potters across generations, it revisited an important chapter of Nigeria’s cultural history and offered a fuller picture of Kwali’s artistic legacy beyond her familiar portrait on the twenty-naira note.

Ways of Seeing by SMO Contemporary Art

SMO Contemporary Art presented “Ways of Seeing”, featuring Roshan Linsi, Nuru Abegaz, Nelson Makamo, Moufouli Bello and Adeniyi Adewole: five artists from Nigeria, Benin Republic, South Africa and Ethiopia whose work across painting, sculpture and multidisciplinary practice examines how we reflect on ourselves and relate to our environment. Among the most striking works in the booth were Adeniyi Adewole’s sculptures, not least for the range of emotions and conversations they provoked. I listened to visitors trade interpretations: some read them through a biblical lens, while others pictured how they would look in their living rooms. The presentation felt grounded and visually striking. Although the artists brought distinct perspectives and practices, a remarkable quality connected their works. From Nuru Abegaz’s surreal works to Roshan Linsi’s abstraction, there was something alluring about the booth and its invitation to look inward and to understand our environment more closely.

Emergence: Becoming & Belonging by Nomadic Art Gallery

Nomadic Art Gallery presented a duo exhibition by Adewale Uthman and Tochukwu Orazulike, two artists who, despite different approaches, share an interest in the relationships and interactions that shape our understanding of the world. Uthman examines how collective experiences, cultural rituals and everyday encounters inform our sense of identity and belonging, while Orazulike explores the unpredictable relationship between material, environment and artistic expression. Together, their works offered two complementary readings of emergence, exploring how meaning, identity and belonging take shape through relationships and interactions.

We Were Never One Thing by Windsor Gallery

Bringing together the works of Leonard ‘Soldier’ Iheagwam and Christopher Samuel Idowu, the exhibition explored identity as an ongoing journey of discovery, shaped by inheritance, memory and lived experience. Where Iheagwam challenges conventional ideas of nationality and what it means to claim a Nigerian identity, Idowu turns inward, examining the layers of personal experience and introspection that shape our understanding of the self.

Make Yourself at Home by Yenwa Gallery

Yenwa brought a sense of home to ART X Lagos with works by Juwon Aderemi, Omolola Coker and Joshua Nmesirionye, artists whose sculptures and paintings speak to the poetics of the body. “Make Yourself at Home” moved between these lines through carved forms and isolated compositions. Above all, the presentation reminded visitors that there are spaces meant to be occupied and spaces meant to stay with us long after we have left. As the presentation’s text put it: “Some are built, others imagined and some feel familiar without us quite knowing why.”

Epignosis II by Kokopelli Gallery

Kokopelli Gallery presented the work of Ransome Stanley, John Madu and Ronke Komos in Epignosis II, an extension of Epignosis I, which opened at the gallery’s Ikoyi space in September. At ART X Lagos, the exhibition unfolded through three markedly different practices: Ransome Stanley, who paints in Germany from an archive of inherited and borrowed images; John Madu, whose paintings document a changing Lagos and the people navigating its transformation; and Ronke Komos, who burns and stains paper to create faces informed by the people and encounters that have shaped her. Each artist’s work had an allure that kept visitors stopping at the booth, and the curator offered a detailed reading of every piece.

Residues of Past Encounters II by Ndidi Dike

One of the outstanding installations of this year’s edition, Residues of Past Encounters II was curated by N’Goné Fall and featured a wooden canoe wreck floating in front of a large-scale colour photograph of the Atlantic Ocean at Badagry. The work references A Drop in the Ocean and Voyage, both exhibited at CCA, Lagos, in 2008, and uses the image of the canoe to recontextualise the turbulent history of the Point of No Return, evoking the journeys, forced departures and historical encounters associated with the site.

Moving Parts at The Speakers’ Corner

The Speakers’ Corner returned this year with Moving Parts, an immersive installation by Yinka Bernie, co-curated by Papa Omotayo and Fikayo Adebajo. Drawing on Lagos’ pedestrian bridges, it explored the connections between people, places and generations through sound and image, and invited visitors to pick a question card and record their response into a microphone.