Victor Ehikhamenor

Welcoming Victor Ehikhamenor to the El Espacio 23 residency. Victor Ehikhamenor is a Nigerian-American multidisciplinary visual artist and writer whose work explores African cultural heritage, postcolonial politics, and the complexities of contemporary Nigeria. Born in Uwessan village, Edo State, he was steeped in the visual/ritual traditions of the Benin Kingdom, which continue to shape his practice. His art falls into three main categories: works featuring abstracted iconography across paintings, sculptures, and installations; pieces using prayer rosaries and bronze statuettes sewn onto lace/canvas to form intricate royal figures and monumental landscapes; and perforated works on handmade paper. Ehikhamenor is a 2026 Apollo 40 Patrons and Advocates awardee, 2025 Open Society’s Public Intellectual Fellow, 2020 National Artist in Residence at the Neon Museum, Las Vegas, and 2016 Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Fellow. He has exhibited internationally, including representing Nigeria national pavilion at the 57th Venice Biennale (2017), Dak ‘Art Biennale (2016), and Biennale Jogja XIII (2015). His writings appear in The New York Times, Guernica magazine, AGNI magazine, BBC, and CNN. He founded Angels and Muse, a Lagos and Benin City residency supporting multidisciplinary art, literature, and cultural practices. Ehikhamenor is the convener of the annual Black Muse Art Festival in Benin City, Nigeria.

“We have not yet arrived, but every point at which we stop requires a redefinition of our destination.” -Ben Okri #elegiesforthethingswecarry

E oo, Ghe Edion Igun ematon n’hen ene gbe E oo, ghe ekpo n’okhua mwa n’ye erhu ematon Vbe n Owẹn d’okun vbe ihere rue lai ugha enikaro vbe erinmwin Edo hia we re okhien owie Igun Eronmwon gbe okhien owie nue, Okhian Ewere ooo okhian ewere Edion n’hen ene gbe. (For Melvin Edwards who was not a stranger in Benin Kingdom) #worthyancestor #melvinedwards #guildofironcaster

Announcing our #OxfordAfricaBusinessForum 2026 Speakers at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford 🌍 Victor Ehikhamenor is a multidisciplinary visual artist and writer whose work spans painting, sculpture, photography, installation, and literature. Based in Nigeria, he is the founder of VEE Studio, where he develops large-scale artistic projects rooted in African history, spirituality, and contemporary culture. He is also the founder of @angelsandmuse a non-profit art organization founded to advance the frontiers of contemporary African art, literature, and cultural discourse. His work draws deeply from the visual traditions of the Edo Kingdom, exploring themes of memory, identity, and post-colonial narratives. He has exhibited internationally at major institutions and biennales, including representing Nigeria at the Venice Biennale, where his installations brought global attention to the depth and evolution of contemporary African art. His work has been collected by museums and institutions all over the world. He is widely recognised for expanding the global conversation on African visual culture and for using art as a medium to interrogate history, power, and cultural heritage. Link to secure your tickets💙✨: https://lnkd.in/dmKGe_H

“Shadow and Dream” a band of worshippers insolently intone incantations beneath the tattered shawl of leaves a little bird flaps its wings in the thin air drenched in the full colour of sunset a leaf stirs with the light wings of a meteor and drops silently into my childhood nest of laughter and I recall, through frayed amber edges of a blurred past the memory of the strange quiet of an evening an evening in the tale of elders I recall a dream of wings and the horizon. - Harry Garuba (Nigerian poet) #holyhallow #backtobein #newartancientlegacy #beninkingdom

“Back to Benin- New Art, Ancient Legacy” curated by Aude Christel Mgba at @defundatie is a journey through time where the past, present, and future coexist, underscoring that restitution concerns not only objects but also knowledge, memory and imagination. This exhibition features fellow artists of Edo background including Leo Asemota, Minne Atairu, Taiye Idahor, Favour Jonathan, Osaru Obaseki, Enotie Ogbebor, Abraham Onoriode Oghobase Osaze Amadasun and Phil Omodamwen. As Ben Okri said “Maybe there are only three kind of stories: those we live, those we tell, and those that help our souls fly upward to a greater life.” Thanks to Museum de Fundatie in Zwolle and the entire team for making this possible. #tellyourstory

A very Happy Birthday to Victor Ehikhamenor who will be celebrating tomorrow the opening of the group exhibition “Back to Benin - New Art, Ancient Legacy” at Museum de Fundatie Zwolle. #maruanimercier #victorehikhamenor

“This is a time when it is frightening to be alive, when it is hard to think of human beings as rational creatures. Everywhere we look we see brutality, stupidity, until it seems that there is nothing else to be seen but that—a descent into barbarism, everywhere, which we are unable to check. But I think that while it is true there is a general worsening, it is precisely because things are so frightening we become hypnotized, and do not notice—or if we notice, belittle—equally strong forces on the other side, the forces, in short, of reason, sanity and civilization.” - Doris Lessing “THERE WILL BE NO DARKNESS TONIGHT” (2024-2026) #bethelight

‘When I Don’t Sleep, I Dream’ (about) ‘Ideas of Africa’ Two amazing exhibitions at @themuseumofmodernart And as Aimé Césaire said: “I have a different idea of a universal. It is of a universal rich with all that is particular, rich with all the particulars there are, the deepening of each particular, the coexistence of them all.” #ideasofafrica

“We have to bring our own future generations to take up the task [of building Africa]” - Demas Nwoko The Iroko Of Idumuje-Ugboko #builder #worthyelder #happy90thbirthday

“Go to the Limits of Your Longing” God speaks to each of us as he makes us, then walks with us silently out of the night. These are the words we dimly hear: You, sent out beyond your recall, go to the limits of your longing. Embody me. Flare up like flame and make big shadows I can move in. Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror. Just keep going. No feeling is final. Don’t let yourself lose me. Nearby is the country they call life. You will know it by its seriousness. Give me your hand. - Ranier Maria Rilke #lookingbackwithgratitude #artisforthepeople #november9th #blackmusefestival #benincity

The theatricality which Prof. Obiora Udechukwu’s painting “Our Journey” lends itself to is monumentally astounding. This work sums up many things in the exhibition, “Nigerian Modernism”, curated by @oseibonsu_ and Bilal Akkouche at the @tate #ourjourney #WeDidNotComeFromVacuum #nigeria