The solo exhibition *WOLOF/JOLLOF* by the Nigerian-born sculptor Folakunle Oshun, curated by Inês Valle will share several stories and tastes that emerge from one of the most beloved Nigerian dishes the ‘Jollof Rice’, through his most recent collaborative work on display at the *National Museum, Onikan – Lagos*, from *6 to 13 of December* of 2015.
This exhibition-installation which explores the popularity and migratory controversy of this culinary dish, consists of a huge outdoor art-installation, where sound, video, sculpture and culinary are shown through a unique interpretation of cooking pots on wheels, some of which will be used to cook Jollof recipes from across West African nations and given to taste.
Folakunle Oshun and Inês Valle will be traveling through West African coast, tracing the route and the recipes’ variations that this dish entails by investigating the multilayer socio-local stories of this migrant dish. A journey that will take them to Benin, Burkina Faso, Togo, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Ivory Coast, and finally Senegal where the original Thiebou Denn recipe is made by the Wolof tribe. Through the several collaborations that will emerge, this exhibition at the National Museum is going to be the first step in a conversation about the history, similarities, and differences that unite familiarities in West African cultures that centre around the Jollof recipes; a project that will culminate with a publication.
ARTIST | FOLAKUNLE OSHUN –Folakunle Oshun holds a BA in Visual Art from the University of Lagos, majoring in Sculpture (2007), and an MA in Art History from the same institution (2012). Folakunle was a curatorial fellow at the African Artists’ Foundation (2013). He recently was curator in residence at ZK/U Berlin, Savvy Contemporary and Gallery Wedding where he undertook the art project *Mending Histories*, A collaborative project with students of The Berlin University of Art and the Humboldt university – questioning the contextualization of African art in Western Museums. At the Osh Gallery, he curated the exhibitions: *Boju-Boju* and *Power Lines *with photo artworks by Ayo Akinwande and Aderemi Adegbite respectively. Oshun has also partnered with the Goethe Institute Lagos, and celebrated artists and photographers as Pwarvidon Mathias and Zemaye Okediji. He also co-curates the Pecha Kucha Lagos Series.
CURATOR | INÊS VALLE- Inês Valle is an independent art curator and art critic. Holds a BA in Visual Arts and an MA Curatorial Studies both by the Faculty of Fine Arts University of Lisbon, recently was accepted for the MA in Post-colonial Culture and Global Policy at Goldsmiths University of London. Works as curatorial consultant at TAFETA, art institution specialized in Modern and Contemporary African Art. Have been collaborating with several artists, curators and leading Art Institutions across the globe, as CCB in Portugal or CCAS in Australia, and has been organizing curatorial projects that function as critical discursive and collaborative platforms that focus on the relations of power between politics, society and the art practice. From her last curatorial projects it can be highlight “God Factor” [Portugal]; “Art Stabs Power”[Portugal/United Kingdom], “Gently I press the trigger” [France/Palestine], “alheava – Transpondo sempre uma viagem” by the Mozambican-born artist Manuel Santos Maia [Portugal], “Indian Emigres” a co-collaboration with Pablo Bartholomew about the Goan Community inPortugal or the exhibition “The Avatāra Suite“ by the Nigerian-born artist Leo Asemota.
