Peju Layiwola
Peju Layiwola is an art Historian and visual artist from Nigeria who works in a variety of media and genre. She is listed as a "21st Century Avant-Garde" in the book "Art Cities of the Future" published by Phaidon Press She is currently a Professor of Art and Art history at the University of Lagos and has been described as a "multitalented artist." Her works can be found in the collection of Microsoft Lagos, Yemisi Shyllon Museum, Pan Atlantic, Lagos and homes of private collectors such as JP and Ebun Clark and the Obi of Onitsha. Biography . Born Adepeju Olowu, Layiwola is the daughter of Babatunde Olatokunbo Olowu and Princess Elizabeth Olowu (née Akenzua). Her paternal grandfather was a business magnate who established the first cinema and printing press in Benin and the Delta region in the old Midwestern state. Her maternal grandfather, meanwhile, was Oba Akenzua II, king of Benin, who reigned from 1933 to 1978. She is also a cousin to DJ P Tee Money (born Thompson Iyamu). Layiwola has built on the artistic tradition of her mother, Princess Elizabeth Olowu, the first female bronze caster in Nigeria, a status she achieved through resilience in  a culture that is very patriarchal. Her dual Yoruba and Edo heritage and history has inspired her professional practice. Professional background. Layiwola received a BA (Metal Design) from University of Benin in 1988, and an MA and PhD (Visual Arts) from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria in 2004. She is the founder of the Women and Youth Art Foundation, an organisation committed to empowering women, young girls and youth through the arts. She has also served on art juries. Layiwola, who initially began working with metal, now explores a broad range of media that engage with history, memory and cultural  expropriation. Her focus is on personal and communal history with the Benin kingdom's dual status as both ancient and modern as a focal point. Much of her work emphasizes themes such as the colonization of sacred assets from the Benin kingdom and asserting her place in the male dominated field of bronze casting. Layiwola is also an advocate against artifact pillaging, and argues in favor of repatriation and restitution. In her most ambitious solo exhibition, "Benin1897.com:Art and the Restitution Question" (2010), Layiwola's return to the punitive expedition to Benin in 1897 and the looting of prized cultural  artifacts from the bedchamber of her forebears brings together her personal and communal history. Her other collaborative public project, "Whose Centenary?" (2014) is also informed by history and the archives. She gave a talk at the Rhode Island School of Design in 2019, and one at the CAA-Getty International Program in 2018 on her work. Of her work and inspiration, she says "I got a lot of inspiration from my mother, having seen her as a young girl casting in metal. So, I opted for metal design at the University of Benin, which was broader spectrum from what she  studied because she did metal casting under sculpture. But I specialize in metal design, which incorporates jewelry production, metal casting etc." As a feminist Layiwola has dedicated her time to empowering women through education in the arts. Layiwola's art projects and mentorship programs have been described as having had an impact on generations of younger artists around Nigeria. Layiwola currently hosts workshops on a traditional form of tie dye called adire, which involves dying cotton cloth an indigo color using a starch resist made of cassava flour. Layiwola would go on to launch a solo exhibition titled ""Indigo reimagined  in 2019, that highlights different types of traditional Yoruba and Edo crafts such as poetry, metalwork and various dyed textiles. Teaching career. Layiwola started her career at University of Benin in 1991 and went on to the University of Lagos in 2002. She rose to the role of Acting head of Creative Arts at the University of Lagos from 2013 to 2015 and the head from 2017 to 2020. She pushed for an overhaul in the curricula and edited the first journal of the department. Under her tenure, the Lagoon gallery was established a contemporary community engagement platform at the  University of Lagos. Advocacy for return of stolen art. Layiwola has led public advocacy for the return of art works stolen from Benin during the Punitive Expedition of 1897.