bubu ogisi

“Rituals of Labour” is the second meeting between @thisisusng and @IAMISIGO — a story where colour becomes culture and cloth becomes character. This collection builds upon the patchwork forms of their first collaboration, now evolving into panelled landscapes of colour and craft. Each piece is a ritual — stitched together from panels of indigo, tumeric, onion, and woven tartan that binds them like kin. Inspired by South South masquerades and African workwear, the collection reimagines patchwork as ritual — each piece a layered expression of craft, community, and becoming. Rooted in African workwear silhouettes — the agbada, the tunic, the boxy shirt — these forms are reimagined through a modern lens of durability and design. The canvas jackets, long skirts, oversized bags and hats evoke functionality, but also defiance — everyday uniforms of the cultural worker and the creative nomad. Together, they create a material dialogue between the North and South, between ancestral dyes and modern weave, between utility and beauty.

@iamisigo for @lvmhprize 🏁

Animism in African spirituality represents a profound understanding of the material world. At once scientific and hopeful, it assumes that everything that has ever existed holds spiritual significance. Under this consideration, masquerade culture acts as a portal between our current world (the scientific) and a more hopeful future (the spiritual). This ritual presentation piece mirrors a “sacred grove” a secret space where masquerades are stored. Every piece is just a fragment of an imagination, a dream and vision. For the artists depiction to become complete requires the viewer’s imagination. The morphological characteristics do not suffice themselves to emit definition of styles or rather stylistic groupings. These emerge from a comparison of individual objects, which evince similarities close enough to justify speaking of a relative continuity of form or combination of forms. The sum of similarities can then define a stylistic grouping. How did synthetic fibres become so pervasive, when not long ago, heirloom natural fibres were the only materials worn by Africans? In this series, we explore the trope of the masquerade reflected in contemporary culture. Traditionally tasked with warding off evil, these portals now find themselves adorned with ‘waste’ fibres. Taken as an image, it reflects fragments of a past that exists only in our collective imagination. These materials, once foreign to our ancestors, now enshroud us, binding our present to a distorted reflection of history. This on-going body of work in collaboration with photographer @tamibebourdanne responds to Ivorian sculpture @m_ballo67 work and involves an effort of thinking, reflecting a concern with something that had not yet been realized which spurred us to creative expression. This all came from the spirits, there is at first only a vague idea of form, then lending material shape to the mental image with all the skill at my disposal. We are tools of supernatural forces, which guide our hands. “Synthetic dreams” 2.0 showing at @citizenprojectspace from January 23rd 2026 to March 7 2026 curated by @aidaesi sound by @kayocabalear

Expressions of the divine :: @lopolopo_gp 2026 “Avez-vous pensé à arroser vos plantes?”

Killers in the jungle 🏔🏝⛰ @nyegenyegefest 2025

[[ @iamisigo :: of Land and Body ]] section featured at the @barbicancentre group show “Dirty Looks” highlighting our ancient pedagogies and fibre processes from 2019 to date, connecting our spirit to the land through materiality curated by @sunnydolat Creating pieces in line with our core values of borderless ideologies, the selected garments were sourced and made across Nigeria, Tanzania, Congo, Kenya, Uganda and Senegal Now showing from 24-09-25 to 25-01-26

@iamisigo ss26 “Dual Mandate” as seen at @cphfw Pluriversal design theories, performance art as religion, language as material, cross fertilization, coalescence and perceptions of people and processes, dialectics of neo-colonial and indigenous socio-spiritual structures: a critical examination of magic, power, ancient technologies and cultural hybridization inspired by Ali Manzrui’s Tools of Exploitation

bombshells 💣 via @kaleidoscopefestivalwatamu 2025

Thank you to our SA family for joining us in celebrating our @iamisigo SS26 launch via @_akjpstudio and our @16by16 booth at @fnbartjoburg ❤️🧡💛💛💚💙💜🖤🤍❤️‍🔥

Restitutions of history, tradition, forms, capital and intellect: our 4th edition of textile waste workshop 2025 in collaboration with @kokrobitey.institute

summmmeeerrrrringgg something

Exactly 30 days ago, the world got to see the fruits of our labour, endless processes and conjuring all in the name of magic 🪄 @IAMISIGO SS26 Dual Mandate as seen at @cphfw