By Prisca Sam-Duru

Award winning multimedia artist, Modupeola Fadugba is finally out with her first solo exhibition which opens to the public on 6th November 2017 at the Temple Muse, Lagos.

“Heads Up, Keep Swimming” as it is titled, presents 30 images in three bodies of work, informed by the artist’s love for swimming and her discovery that there aren’t many black women swimmers.

Curated by SMO Contemporary Art, the exhibition presents exciting new works by Fadugba that explore the “Intricate balance between competition and cooperation within the stormy sea of the commercially driven global art scene.

Fadugba’s intricate,  partially burned drawings on paper depicts female synchronized swimmers, red balls and gold leaf highlights, while  bubbles breaking to the water surface, speaks to winning in thegameof life”, while considering the importance of cooperation & communal values.

Fadugba’s works largely expresses her deep commitment to  fight for global access to education, especially for girl   while exploring positive role models for women of color.

Heads Up, Keep Swimming which coincides with the start of the 2017  Art X Lagos,

is sponsored by Zircon Marine,Zenith Capital and Veuve Cliquot, and will run from November 6 – 27, 2017.

Nigeria’s Harvard trained Fadugba who grew up in the United States and London, merely uses the metaphor of Synchronized Swimmers to address issues regarding success and winning in the pool of life. She explained that the works began about two years ago on discovery that there were hardly black women swimmers.

In the ‘Heads or Tails’ series Fadugba uses burnt paper coins to highlight the importance of female representation on national symbols. Here, she created a paper coin work with the face of Dr. Stella Adedevoh, the brave physician who identified the first Ebola victim in 2014, alerting local and international health authorities and paving the way for Nigeria’s rapid and been, if not for Dr. Adadevoh” states the artist paying tribute to this important Nigerian hero. ”She lost her life for many of ours. A true hero, Dr. Adedevoh is (a) HEADS (in my art).

In line with striving to practice what she peaches, the fast-rising artist is collaborating with Nigeria’s A-list singer and music producer, MI, to turn her letter, “Dear Young Artist” into music. The letter which she read at the press preview in Lagos, according to her, was inspired by that of Kenyan artist, Wangechi Mutu and dedicated to young or aspiring artists across the globe.

In her Tag Series, hyper-realistic images speaking to the importance and roles of women in modern world, and migration, are created.

Pink Lake, Black Sea II, Head or Tail, are other titles on display. Her works, according to the curator, Sandra Obiago, “Have drawn phenomenal interest in New York, London, and Paris this year, as she critiques feminism, social justice and education through an innovative game theory which has attracted international collectors and art enthusiasts across the world.”