What project were you investigating or developing during your residency?

Before the 1-98 residency, I had become interested in artistic research and how to situate it within my practice as well as material experimentation on my thematic interests, which centred on multigenerational living. I was drawing from my own family background. On commencing my residency, I started having conversations and learnt a lot about the 1-98 residency building and the one adjacent to it. These were incredible finds, especially the roles both buildings played during the 1970s and 80s, an era that became very central to my current research. 

The idea expanded into the current realities of the living system in Lagos and multiple families living within a compound. I was drawing parallel with multi-generational homes in the 1970s and 1980s, and modern Lagos now, all the different contexts and how people were adapting to all of these living spaces. I also wanted to experiment with a new medium and printing has been the front runner for me. Being in the residency was my first time experimenting with printmaking. Printing became a conceptual response to this and a way to make impressions and speculations of what home could mean. It’s very easy to lose track of your own impression on a particular space. I had never used plywood to print before. I never even knew that it was possible.

What kind of support during the residency was most meaningful to you?

The mental support I got during my stay was very dear to me. I was reminded to prioritise rest and how it can be more important than the work itself. Residencies can be overwhelming, especially when you come with the readiness to accomplish multiple things, but later realise that you may not be able to do it all. I was able to move at a reasonable pace and be very present during most of my time there and the things I engaged with.

Were there any local materials, histories, or conversations that found their way into your work?

Towards the end of my residency, I hosted a printmaking workshop where I invited people to speculate on what home means to them, giving them this very large box of my own idea of home. We entered this almost non-verbal dialogue. They picked different positions of the box they wanted and etched on it. We kept side by side what we had done, you could see the stark difference of my own ideologies and their adaptations. I also had an open studio and showed the consolidation of what I’d gathered during my stay and how that launched me into an expanded multidisciplinary practice.

What is currently inspiring your thinking or practice

There was a book that launched me into my research during my stay: Why Materials Matter: Responsible Designs for a Better World by Seetal Solanki. Being launched into that book and seeing the world of possibilities was so beautiful, and it opened my mind to how you can take the most minute things and make them tangible. So yeah, that book was… was awesome.