Tag Archives: nengi omuku

An artist from Nigeria at a gallery in London

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BACK IN 2023, we were in Hastings, and saw an exhibition of works by artist Nengi Omuku. She was born in Nigeria in 1987, and received artistic education (BA and MA degrees) at London’s Slade School of Art. She lives and works between London and Lagos (Nigeria). After seeing the exhibition in Hastings, I wrote about it here: https://adam-yamey-writes.com/2023/10/18/wild-silk-beside-the-east-sussex-sea-shore/ .

Today, 23 May 2026, we saw another exhibition of her art, which is being held at Pippy Houldsworth Gallery in Heddon Street, London W1 until 30 May 2026. Like the work she exhibited in Hastings, this show is a collection of her paintings on sanyan – a hand spun cloth that has been made by the Yoruba people since long before their lands were colonised by Europeans. Nengi takes a great interest in the production of this traditional textile. The subject matter on the paintings in the London show the artist’s exploration of the “politics of green spaces in urban centres”. She is particularly concerned with the insufficient quantity of green spaces in Lagos. Examination of aerial views of the city confirm her anxiety: large areas of the city are devoid of green spaces. Statistically, as far as this is concerned Lagos has not much less green space than Manhattan, but considerably less than Central London, and far less than Greater London.

The paintings, which depict different urban scenes, are delicately painted in slightly muted colours. Close examination of the pictures reveals the details of the cloth upon which paint has been applied. It was a small exhibition, but well worth seeing.

Wild silk beside the East Sussex sea shore

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THERE IS A NIGERIAN woven fabric called ‘sanyan’. Made mostly by the Yoruba people, its principal ingredient is a type of wild silk. The fabric is thick and resembles denim or canvas in texture. Strips of sanyan are sewn together to make garments and other items. During a recent visit to the Hastings Contemporary Art Gallery, which stands close to the seashore, we saw an exhibition of paintings made on sanyan cloths.

The creator of these images is Nigerian born Nengi Omuku who was born in Lagos (Nigeria) in 1987. It is there that this artist, who trained at the Slade School of Fine Art in London, now works. Before becoming an artist, Nengi worked in her mother’s florist shop, eventually coming into contact with art when she began making preparatory drawings for customers’ garden planning.

Nengi’s exhibition at Hastings is called “The Dance of People and the Natural World”and is on until the 3rd of March 2024. The artist took large sheets of sanyan fabric, consisting of strips of sanyan sewn tightly together, and then coated them with a gesso ground. When this was ready, she then used oil  paints to create images. Whether it was her painting technique or some property of the material upon which she applied the colours, the resulting images have a uniquely haunting, other-worldly quality that I have not seen in other artists’ works.  

The paintings are well displayed. They have been hung away from the walls so that one can look at their backs. By looking behind the paintings, you can see the stitching that holds the pieces of sanyan together as well as beads of the gesso ground that had oozed between the adjoining strips. By looking closely at the paintings, the joins between the constituent strips of sanyan can easily be detected (see photograph above). These create an interesting surface texture quite unlike the canvas usually used by painters.

I enjoyed the exhibition not only because the artwork was attractive but also because I became aware of an interesting fabric, which is in common use in Nigeria.