Titled Nigeria Imaginary, the exhibition was conceived by Aindrea Emelife, a Nigerian-British curator of modern and contemporary art at the Museum of West African Art (MOWAA) in Benin City. The title, straightforwardly, leads to the heart of the exhibition – a collective of new, commissioned, and site-specific works by a diverse group of Nigerian and diaspora artists: Tunji Adeniyi-Jones, Ndidi Dike, Onyeka Igwe, Toyin Ojih Odutola, Abraham Oghobase, Precious Okoyomon, Yinka Shonibare CBE RA, and Fatimah Tuggar. These eight artists, through diverse practices, sketch new possibilities for the country, investigating both the legacy of colonial past and reimagining a new Nation – a sort of manifesto for a hopeful future led by the younger generations.

“I sat down and started to think about what I feel and what the world needs to know about Nigeria now,” Emelife stated in an interview. “Being a Nigerian in the diaspora, I thought about the ways in which I have seen Nigeria and the way I feel others look at Nigeria. There are really many ways; the imagination can be such a fertile and powerful tool of liberation. In the imaginary, we can dream, but we can also grapple with ideas of utopia.” Nigeria Imaginary marks the country’s second participation in the Biennale Arte, transcending the exhibition to become a ‘movement,’ evoking the spirit of the Mbari Club, the legendary center for cultural activity of African writers, creatives, and musicians, founded by Ulli Beier in Ibadan during the pre and post-independence period. It brought together a constellation of artists convinced that art was not an end in itself but a public matter and a duty to the community.