Nigerian Art Is Centre Stage in London This Autumn

Frieze London and Frieze Masters coincide with the first UK exhibition to map the rise of modern art in Nigeria. ‘Nigerian Modernism’ (8 October 2025 – 10 May 2026) at Tate Modern highlights 50 trailblazing artists working across 50 years of political and social upheaval: from British colonial rule in the 1940s, the 1960s economic boom and civil war, to reflection on global Nigerian identity at the close of the 20th century.

Twins Seven-Seven | kó in Spotlight at Frieze Masters (Stand S16)

Pioneering Yoruba artist and performer Twins Seven-Seven (1944–2011) – a key figure in the Tate Modern show – is celebrated by Lagos-based gallery kó in a solo presentation in Spotlight at Frieze Masters. Initially a travelling singer and dancer, Seven-Seven turned to visual art in 1964 after attending a workshop at Mbari Mbayo in Ibadan, a national hub for experimental art, writing and music. Seven-Seven developed a distinct modernist style anchored in both Yoruba mythology and post-independence Nigeria, describing his work as ‘contemporary Yoruba traditional art’. kó’s presentation spans the first two decades of Seven-Seven’s art-making, including works created in ink, pastel and oil on plywood and fabric, with patterns and rhythms that echo those of traditional Yoruba carvings. 

Abdias Do Nascimento | Galeria MaPa at Frieze Masters (Stand E12)

Artist and activist Abdias Do Nascimento (1914–2011) died the same year as Seven-Seven. The grandson of enslaved people, Do Nascimento devoted his life to documenting and promoting Black diasporic culture in Brazil. He founded the Black Experimental Theatre in Rio De Janeiro, the Afro-Brazilian Democratic Committee and the Museu de Arte Negra, which collected works by Black artists overlooked by institutions. In 1968, Do Nascimento fled Brazil’s military coup and moved to live in the US and Nigeria, where he began to teach and paint in earnest. Paintings spanning Do Nascimento’s career are presented by Galeria MaPa at Frieze Masters.

Bunmi Agusto | Tafeta in Echoes in the Present at Frieze London (Stand S6)

The transatlantic dialogue between West Africa and Brazil is the focus of a new themed section at Frieze London. Echoes in the Present explores the entangled histories of African and Brazilian artists and their diasporas ‘to reconsider,’ says curator Jareh Das, ‘how things are remembered, how we engage with them in the present and how they signal possible futures’. Das’s selection of ten artists includes London-based Nigerian artist Bunmi Agusto, presented by Tafeta. Agusto’s works on paper reflect the deep historical relationship between Brazil and Nigeria: from the arrival of Portuguese merchants in the 15th century, the enslavement, emancipation and return of her great-great grandfather João Agusto from Bahia to Lagos in the 19th century, to the legacies of Brazilian returnees in the architectural landscape of Lagos. 

Joy Labinjo | Tiwani Contemporary at Frieze London (Stand D6)

Agusto’s otherworldly landscapes feature in Tiwani Contemporary’s group show at Frieze London, alongside recent works by British-Nigerian artist Joy Labinjo. Depicting intimate scenes, Labinjo’s large-scale figurative paintings are drawn from archival and found imagery and family photographs and explore her experience of growing up Black, British and Nigerian in the ’90s and early ’00s.

Ruth Ige | Stevenson at Frieze London (Stand D16)

Nigeria-born, New Zealand-based Ruth Ige presents work from her 2024 series ‘And you are of the heavens and of the earth’ with Stevenson at Frieze London. ‘I have been observing ideas of the ethereal,’ writes Ige of the series, ‘and how society views things that are ethereal, holy, heavenly, otherworldly, royal and beautiful as things void of Blackness and Black people.’ In Ige’s blue-suffused scenes – inspired by indigo Yoruba fabrics – her figures soar between worlds and histories. 

Nengi Omuku | Pippy Houldsworth Gallery at Frieze London (Stand A21)

Nengi Omuku also explores Yoruba textile traditions, painting on stitched strips of sanyan, a tightly woven silk fabric. With Pippy Houldsworth Gallery at Frieze London, Omuku shows new sanyan works in which Nigeria’s social history and present intertwine in ethereal natural settings inspired by her early training as a horticulturalist. 

‘El Anatsui: Go Back and Pick’ | October Gallery (9 October – 29 November 2025) and Goodman Gallery (11 October – 19 November 2025) 

El Anatsui, a prominent voice in Tate’s show, is celebrated across the city during Frieze Week London, with two concurrent solo exhibitions opening at Goodman Gallery in Mayfair and October Gallery in Bloomsbury. ‘El Anatsui: Go Back and Pick’, a collaboration between the two galleries, marks Anatsui’s return to the medium of wood in new sculptures made from lumber and salvaged timber sourced from the Nsukka Market in Nigeria, where the Ghanaian-born artist has worked for the last five decades. Scratches, burns and lines tessellate across the sculptures’ surfaces, continuing the sense of play and experimentation that has sustained the entirety of Anatsui’s career.

Further Information

Frieze London and Frieze Masters, The Regent’s Park, 15 – 19 October 2025. 

Tickets are on sale – don’t miss out, buy yours now. Alternatively, become a member to enjoy premier access, exclusive guided tours and more.

BUY TICKETS

For all the latest news from Frieze, sign up to the newsletter at frieze.com, and follow @friezeofficial on Instagram and Frieze Official on Facebook.

^{Main Image: Bunmi Agusto, Cosmic Shadow, 2025. Pastel pencil, coloured pencil, ink and acrylic on pastel paper, 69 × 53 cm. Courtesy: the artist and TAFETA}