Aka Circle of Exhibiting Artists

A circle of artists founded in 1985 by El Anatsui and Obiora Udechukwu, who taught or studied at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka and the Institute of Management and Technology, Enugu. "Aka" is Igbo for hand. In the economic hardship and military rule of 1980s Nigeria, when galleries and patrons had little money, they came together to show their work themselves: the first annual exhibition opened at the French Centre, Enugu, in 1986, and the shows ran until about 2000. Out of the Nsukka School, they pushed uli line, local materials and new media in their own directions. Fifteen of them were brought back together in "Kindred Spirits" at kó, Lagos, in 2024, after a nineteen-year gap.

What to look for

Not one style but a shared spirit of experiment: uli and nsibidi line in drawing and painting; watercolour; carved and burnt wood and found materials in sculpture; tapestry and textile; Igbo thought and the politics of the day.

Masters of the school

• El Anatsui reference ↗
• Obiora Udechukwu
• Chike Aniakor reference ↗
• Tayo Adenaike
• Ifedioramma Dike reference ↗
• Chika Okeke-Agulu reference ↗
• Nsikak Essien reference ↗
• Chris Afuba reference ↗
• Obiora Anidi reference ↗
• Bona Ezeudu reference ↗
• Chike Ebebe reference ↗
• Chris Echeta reference ↗
• Boniface Okafor reference ↗
• Samson Uchendu reference ↗
• Tony Umunna reference ↗

Read more

• Kindred Spirits: A Gathering of the Aka Circle of Artists, kó (2024) ↗
• Aka Circle (Wikipedia search) ↗