When Art X Lagos launched in 2016, it marked a turning point for West Africa’s cultural scene. Founded by Tokini Peterside-Schwebig, the fair became the region’s first international art fair and has since grown into a platform that amplifies Nigerian and African creativity on the global stage. Its inaugural edition brought together over sixty artists from ten African countries, setting the tone for what would become a yearly meeting point for collectors, curators, and art enthusiasts.

Art X Lagos is a festival of ideas. Alongside its gallery presentations, it has expanded to include Art X Talks—a series of panels and discussions with leading voices in the art world—Art X Live!, a performance showcase combining music and visual art, and film screenings that broaden the scope of engagement. Each edition is designed to highlight Africa’s creative dynamism while situating it within a global conversation. The 2024 edition, themed Promised Lands, explored migration, belonging, and visions of the future, reinforcing the fair’s role as a space where art reflects and reimagines society (Artsy, Wikipedia, Art X Lagos).

One of the artists who has risen within this context is Mobolaji Ogunrosoye, a finalist for the Access Bank ART X Prize 2021. Her work in photography and collage experiments with transparency, layering, and distortion, interrogating how personal and collective identities are shaped in contemporary Nigeria. Her presence at the fair reflects the platform’s commitment to supporting both emerging and established talent.

Equally significant are artists like Victor Ehikhamenor, whose installations draw from Edo traditions and Catholic iconography, creating bold patterns that resonate with cultural memory; Peju Alatise, whose mixed-media works grapple with social and gender issues in Nigeria; and Ruby Onyinyechi Amanze, whose collages map the fluid identities of the African diaspora. Nengi Omuku, known for painting on sanyan, a Yoruba handwoven fabric, bridges traditional material culture with contemporary aesthetics, while Wura-Natasha Ogunji brings performance and stitched drawings into dialogue with themes of womanhood and everyday urban life.

Art X Lagos has positioned Lagos as an African cultural hub, rivaling art capitals from Johannesburg to Marrakech. By creating a commercial platform for galleries and collectors, it has boosted Nigeria’s art market, while also sparking critical conversations about identity, modernity, and global belonging. Its reach extends beyond Nigeria, drawing international collectors and institutions eager to engage with African contemporary art at its source.

At its core, the fair cultivates cultural pride: it reminds Nigerians that their creativity is both locally rooted and globally resonant. By spotlighting artists like Ogunrosoye and others, Art X Lagos demonstrates that contemporary Nigerian art is not peripheral but central to the evolving story of global culture.

Gallery of Notable Artists at Art X Lagos

• Mobolaji Ogunrosoye
  Works in photography and collage, exploring distortion and perception in Nigerian identity. Finalist of the Access Bank ART X Prize 2021.
   
• Victor Ehikhamenor
  Known for paintings, photography, and large-scale installations inspired by traditional Edo motifs. Has exhibited widely at Art X Lagos.
   
• Peju Alatise
  A sculptor and installation artist whose works address social and gender issues in Nigeria, featured at multiple editions of the fair (Artsy).
   
• Ruby Onyinyechi Amanze
  Specializes in mixed-media drawings and collages exploring diaspora and identity, exhibited at Art X Lagos.
   
• Nengi Omuku
  Creates ethereal oil paintings on sanyan, a Yoruba handwoven fabric. She has participated in the fair, bringing Nigerian traditional material into contemporary dialogue.
   
• Wura-Natasha Ogunji
  Performance and visual artist whose stitched drawings and public performances have been part of Art X Lagos.