Adenrele Sonariwo | |
---|---|
Born | |
Nationality | Nigerian |
Alma mater | Howard University, Academy of Art University, University of the Arts London |
Occupation(s) | Curator, Entrepreneur |
Adenrele Sonariwo is a Nigerian entrepreneur and art curator. She is the founder of the Rele Art Gallery on Military Street, Onikan, Lagos Island, Lagos, Nigeria as well as the Rele Art Gallery on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles, California. Rele Gallery is the first African contemporary art gallery to establish an outpost in Los Angeles. Sonariwo was the lead curator of the first Nigerian pavilion at the 57th Venice Biennale in 2017. Alongside the Rele Art Gallery, Sonariwo is also the founding director of the Rele Arts Foundation. The foundation's projects include the annual young Contemporaries programme, which offers grants, mentorship, residences and training to a small group of emerging artists, an opportunity that results in an exhibition hosted at the gallery. [1]
Sonariwo got her first degree in accounting at Howard University in 2007, [2] then went on to work at PricewaterhouseCoopers as an accountant for four years. [3] [4] She has an MA Multimedia Communications from the Academy of Art University and a certificate in Curating Contemporary Art Exhibitions from the University of the Arts London. [4]
On return to Nigeria, she founded Rele Art Gallery in 2010, though it didn't kick off as a physical space until February, 2015. [4] In 2011, while the idea of the gallery had started taking root, she attempted to start an arts university in Nigeria which she called The Modern Day School of the Arts. [5] [3] It was "a pop up art school for art lovers who may be stuck in a different career." [6]
In 2017, Sonariwo became the lead curator of the first Nigerian pavilion at the 57th Venice Biennale. [7] [8] She was joined by writer and art critic Emmanuel Iduma as associate curator. The edition was themed Viva Arte Viva [9] [6] and the Nigerian pavilion featured the work of Victor Ehikhamenor, Peju Alatise, and Qudus Onikeku. [10] [11] [12]
Sonariwo won The Future Awards for Arts and Culture in 2016. [13] She has also been on the Power List of influencers in culture in 2016 [14] and 2017. [15] In March 2017, she was listed as one of the 100 Most Inspiring Women in Nigeria. [16] She has spoken at TEDx events, [17] and been a member of the jury at Dak'art Biennale which took place in 2018. [18] She has also graced the cover of Guardian Life magazine in Nigeria. [19]
In 2018, Vogue listed her as one of the "Five Coolest Women in Lagos". [20] Since 2019, Sonariwo has been a consultant on culture ad tourism to the Governor of Ogun State. [1]
Sonariwo is the daughter of the 18th Akarigbo of Remo, Oba Michael Sonariwo, who died in 2016 at 80 years. [21]
The Venice Biennale is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of its kind. The main exhibition held in Castello, in the halls of the Arsenale and Biennale Gardens, alternates between art and architecture. The other events hosted by the Foundation—spanning theatre, music, and dance—are held annually in various parts of Venice, whereas the Venice Film Festival takes place at the Lido.
Biennale, Italian for "biennial" or "every other year", is any event that happens every two years. It is most commonly used within the art world to describe large-scale international contemporary art exhibitions. As such the term was popularised by Venice Biennale, which was first held in 1895. Since the 1990s, the terms "biennale" and "biennial" have been interchangeably used in a more generic way - to signify a large-scale international survey show of contemporary art that recurs at regular intervals but not necessarily biannual. The phrase has also been used for other artistic events, such as the "Biennale de Paris", "Kochi-Muziris Biennale", Berlinale and Viennale.
Alfons Hug is a curator, critic and exhibition organizer.
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The 56th Venice Biennale was an international contemporary art exhibition held between May and November 2015. The Venice Biennale takes place biennially in Venice, Italy. Artistic director Okwui Enwezor curated its central exhibition, "All The World's Futures".
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The 57th Venice Biennale was an international contemporary art exhibition held between May and November 2017. The Venice Biennale takes place biennially in Venice, Italy. Artistic director Christine Macel, the chief curator at the Centre Pompidou, curated its central exhibition, "Viva Arte Viva", as a series of interconnected pavilions designed to reflect art's capacity for expanding humanism. The curator also organized a project, "Unpacking My Library", based on a Walter Benjamin essay, to list artists' favorite books. Macel was the first French director since 1995 and the fourth woman to direct the Biennale. A trend of presenting overlooked, rediscovered, or "emerging dead artists" was a theme of the 57th Biennale.
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Peju Alatise is a Nigerian artist, poet, writer, and a fellow at the National Museum of African Art, part of the Smithsonian Institution. Alatise received formal training as an architect at Ladoke Akintola University in Oyo State, Nigeria. She then went on to work for 20 years as a studio artist.
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Rele Gallery is a contemporary art space and gallery in Lagos, Nigeria. It is on Military Street, Onikan Lagos and on Victoria Island, Lagos.
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Sejiro Avoseh is a visual artist from Nigeria who resides in Canterbury, England. A painter best known for his signature fusion of abstracted human figures and automobile parts using painting and collaging techniques, Sejiro makes his painted montages from cut-out magazines and newspapers. Sejiro's works are autobiographical, lending critical voices on the poor fate of the indigent underclass in his society, and on the highhandedness and abuse of power by public servants and elected officials. In 2018, he was featured in the Financial Times as one of Nigeria's promising artists.