Ayọ̀ Akínwándé

Lives and works in London, UK

Artist statement

Ayọ̀ Akínwándé is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice examines power, identity, memory, spirituality and the relationships between bodies, environments and systems of knowledge. Trained in architecture, he works across painting, photography, moving image, performance, installation, sound and spatial practice, approaching the artwork not only as an object, but as a site through which social, political, ecological and spiritual relationships can be encountered. His earlier works emerged from sustained investigations into political authority, public discourse and the circulation of information. Projects such as Power Show, The People’s Parliament and Archiving the Future examine the relationship between the powerful and the powerless, and the ways political realities are produced, experienced and archived. Architecture remains embedded within this approach: through scale, spatial composition and the positioning of bodies, Akínwándé moves between intimacy and monumentality, private experience and public space. The body is also a recurring site of inquiry. Through photography and performance, works including Sweet Ass, Swiss Alps, Joker and Ogoni Clean-Up place the body in relation to race, landscape, violence, ecology and systems of representation. Rather than functioning simply as self-portraiture, the body becomes a material and political presence through which questions of visibility, belonging and power can be negotiated. In recent years, Akínwándé’s practice has...

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