Peju Layiwola

(Artist and Teacher)

History plays a major role in the selection of materials I explore in my work. My art is also inspired by my dual heritage of being Yoruba and Benin. I enjoy the advantage of sitting on the shoulders of one culture, and peeping into the other. Sometimes, I appear to sit on the shoulders of both and peep into the future. Much as I draw from these two great cultures, I am also fascinated by the ordinary and simple things that continue to inspire.

Whose Centenary?

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Òjé market in Ibadan was the international market for textile in West Africa.  It used to be a place to buy some of the choicest Yoruba fabrics sányá,àlàárì and etù.. Today, Òjé market is known mainly as an apothecary, and trade in new forms of aso òfì and imported fabrics. This large patchwork, comprising many squares, is representative of the large crowd of people that gather on market days. Òjé Market is located in the sprawling city of Ibadan-a city the late renowned poet, JP Clark in 1965 wrote a quintet titled ‘Ibadan’ – Running splash of rust and gold flung and scattered amongst seven hills like broken china in the sun’. He skillfully comments on the haphazard nature of Ibadan, but also compares it with the city of Rome, set against seven hills. Ojo Ojà Òjé has tones of browns and yellow ochre, like the rusty roofs Clark spoke poetically about represented in this patchwork installation.