Nifemi Marcus-Bello's first solo exhibition in Lagos opens
Installation view.
LAGOS.—
Tiwani Contemporary in Lagos, Nigeria opened leading contemporary designer Nifemi Marcus-Bello’s first solo exhibition in his home country. Material Affirmations – ORÍKÌ Acts I–III, brings together all three acts of his acclaimed series for the first time, offering a rare opportunity to explore Marcus-Bello’s interrogation of materials across history, geography, and culture. The series has been shown internationally and won global recognition, including a special mention for the Loewe Craft Prize, but has never been shown on the continent that inspired it. Ranging from sacred Benin bronze to repurposed aluminum and locally sourced copper, the exhibition illuminates how Marcus-Bello creates designs that highlight the meaning these materials carry locally and their influence in global markets.
“Presenting all three Acts of the Oríkì series together in Lagos is deeply significant,” Marcus-Bello explains. “Each material tells a story—from the sacred bronzes of Benin, to aluminum that sustains everyday life in the city, to copper whose extraction and refinement reveal hidden currents of global trade. Seen together, these works reflect not only the evolution of materials, but the hands, histories, and communities that shape them. This has long been the inspiration for my work in design, and to be able to bring it back to the source and share it as a single gesture for the first time with the people and place that inspired it is incredibly meaningful.”
In total, the exhibition comprises 9 works, including sculptural objects, furniture, and lighting across the Oríkì series. Oríkì is a Yoruba term for praise poetry or spoken affirmations that honor a person, family, or lineage– here, it serves as a metaphor for celebrating materials, craft, and cultural memory through collaborative design. The “acts” of the series address creating objects in three types of metal, each with different processes, meanings, and histories:
• Act I - Bronze: The first Act in the Oríkì series features sculptural benches in polished bronze, fabricated in collaboration with Benin bronze casters using traditional lost-wax techniques. The surfaces bear the fingerprints of Marcus-Bello and his artisans, emphasizing the labor, process, and human presence behind each object. The works honor both the sacred material and the lineage of craft, asserting its relevance in the present day.
• Act II – Aluminum: The second Act centers on sand-cast aluminum sourced from Lagos’ second-hand auto industry. Collaborating with local autopart casters, Marcus-Bello transforms industrial forms—cones, discs, and planes—into sculptural seating, tables, and display objects, highlighting the hidden craft networks that sustain everyday life in the city. The work interrogates reuse, production chains, and material value, drawing attention to the ingenuity and adaptability of Nigerian craft communities. By engaging with this overlooked local industry, Marcus-Bello traces a direct line from material extraction to functional design, connecting domestic practices to broader questions of globalization and resource circulation.
• Act III – Copper: The final Act focuses on copper, procured through local networks in Lagos and informed by Marcus-Bello’s formative years in Zambia, a hub of raw material extraction. The works combine seating, tables, and lighting into functional yet metaphysical objects, referencing African historic typologies such as the Sotho and Shona headrest and stool. Through exploration of scarcity, extraction, and refinement, the pieces illuminate the intricate relationships between craft, material value, and global markets. They reflect a profound engagement with the lifecycle of objects, highlighting the tension between local availability and global demand.
The Lagos presentation also features a new bronze work that unites the themes of all three Acts, emphasizing Marcus-Bello’s ongoing dialogue with material identity, craft histories, and local-global networks. Together, the series presents a foundational design exhibition not only of Marcus-Bello’s work, but on materiality in Nigeria, bridging historic techniques, vernacular processes, and contemporary innovation while demonstrating the significance of local materials on a global stage.
The Oríkì series is emblematic of Marcus-Bello’s practice overall, which is deeply rooted in research-driven, community-oriented design, examining the ways indigenous products in West African cities function as both socio-economic solutions and urban infrastructure. Through his ongoing project Africa – A Designer’s Utopia, Marcus-Bello investigates the ecosystems surrounding these locally made objects—crafted from readily available materials and techniques, often as kits of parts or vernacular manufacturing systems—and explores how urban planning shapes the networks through which communities design, build, and distribute these products. By studying these organically developed systems, Marcus-Bello highlights the ingenuity, resourcefulness, and problem-solving inherent in African design practices, demonstrating how a vibrant design revolution unfolds outside formalized design frameworks.
Published by Apartamento and released to coincide with the exhibition, Oríkì: Material Affirmations in Three Acts is the debut monograph from Marcus-Bello. With a foreword by Eames Demetrios and essays by Irene Sunwoo, Glenn Adamson, and Rita Ouédraogo, as well as an exclusive interview with Camille Okhio, the book situates Marcus-Bello’s practice within global conversations on materiality, craft, and identity. Featuring full-color images of the works, process photography, and images from Marcus-Bello’s personal archive, the publication reveals the inspiration and intimate narratives behind the work.
Exhibition Dates: 6 November 2025 – 10 January 2026
Location: Tiwani Contemporary, 13 Elsie Femi Pearse Street, Victoria Island, Lagos, Nigeria
