kó presents Mining Abstractions, a group exhibition that brings together artists who engage abstraction to decipher cultural codes, histories and mythologies. Their works deconstruct systems of visual language through mark-making, pattern, repetition and fluid structures. Working across painting, drawing, ceramics, textiles, and design, these artists approach abstraction as a practice of excavation, uncovering layered meanings and reshaping personal metaphors. Some works unfold through delicate, meditative marks; others through bold, expressive gestures.
Several artists draw from inherited traditions—Yoruba cosmology, Igbo Uli design, ceremonial symbols, and craft practices—infusing abstraction with cultural memory and ancestral knowledge. Others respond to the conditions of contemporary life, shaped by digital culture, diasporic movement and the politics of visibility. Motifs such as webs, networks and fragmented bodies evoke themes of restriction, transition and passage. Together, these artists expand the language of abstraction—at once personal and collective, historical and contemporary, visible and obscured. Through their material gestures, they engage reshape narratives of continuity and change.
Sabastine Ugwuoke (b. 1975, Umachi Enugu-Ezike, Nigeria) creates wall sculptures formed from repurposed aluminum printing plates, aluminum cans and rubber soles. His artworks take abstract forms as the materials flow and take variable shape, creating fabric-like tapestries. Ugwuoke is interested in the concept of duality and how it forms our understanding of life, articulated through his experimentation of discarded materials and their manipulation into expressive forms. Taking the form of textiles, Uguwoke connects his artworks to the Igbo expression Ogodo mkpuchi oto, translated “wrapping cloth that covers nakedness,” as a metaphor for personal or social identities.
Araba Opoku (b. 1998, Ghana) creates abstract paintings through a fluid process that interlaces winding brushstrokes with geometric motifs. Her practice explores the multiplicity of ecologies—those rooted in the body and psyche, as well as the natural, spiritual and mystical realms. Through her layered compositions, Opoku evokes the entanglement of these tangible and intangible worlds, evoking the interconnectedness of existence.
Vivid psychedelic hues ripple across the surface in undulating patterns and textures, suggesting organic and symbolic resonance. The canvas is covered in a warped, sculptural frame that mirrors the painting’s internal fluidity, echoing the artist’s expansive approach to form. Drawing from material culture, Opoku considers how patterns, symbols and sensory experiences can act as portals into concealed layers of meaning.
Chijioke Anyacho (b. 1995, Benin City, Nigeria) works at the intersection of abstraction and representation, crafting compositions that unfold like emotional maps. Disjointed figures—torsos, limbs and silhouettes—are suspended in saturated, dreamlike spaces. The kaleidoscopic palette sets vivid tones against soft washes, where flat planes collide with textured passages. These bodies appear in flux, suspended between presence and erasure. Drawing from his personal history of growing up without a father, Anyacho dissects the psychological weight of absence, loss and acceptance.
Modupeola Fadugba (b. 1985, Lomé, Togo) unveils the rich narrative of the Ojude Oba Festival, a celebration of Yoruba heritage that reflects deep communal ties and cultural pride. The series honors the powerful bond between the Monarch and his people in Ijebuland, symbolising identity, unity and collective purpose. Inspired by the delicacy and detail of Japanese surimono prints, Fadugba blends bold Nigerian symbolism with refined, layered textures.
Riders on regal horses and traditional textiles are framed by coral, magenta, and lilac hues, with gold lines tracing dynamic forms. Visible pencil strokes, layered shading, and intentionally unfinished areas preserve the raw creative process. Trained in Chemical Engineering, Fadugba employs a unique technical skill-set to bring her surfaces to life, activating material science as a form of storytelling through the delicate burning of paper and incorporation of a variety of materials such as gold leaf, graphite, ink, acrylic and oil.
Kingsley Ayogu (b. 1994, Enugu, Nigeria) forms abstract compositions with nets, creating multiple layers and textures that reflect on spirituality, fragility and resilience. These brightly-colored nets are torn, ripped, and loosely reassembled as a translucent mesh, partially disguising the figurative canvas underneath. Ayogu’s practice is rooted in his focus on Black consciousness and its key values of re-defining Blackness as a form of mentality, self-regulation and authority. Other participating artists are Chijioke Anyacho, Chukwuemeka Anthony Chukwu, Yagazie Emezi, Diana Ejaita, Adebayo Bolaji, Ozioma Onuzukile, Layo Bright, Delicious Atuku, Bisila Noha and Lani Adeoye. Mining Abstractions opens on the 24th of April and will run until 31st of May 2025.
