In Conversation: Azu Nwagbogu and Barry Yusufu
Unit London’s hugely successful group show, The Medium Is The Message, is coming to a close at the end of this week. To celebrate the final days of this powerful exhibition and if you missed the discussion on Instagram Live, we invite you to watch the thought-provoking conversation between Azu Nwagbogu and Barry Yusufu. As both men come from Nigeria, they exchange thoughts on the current socio-political climate in the country and the role of the artist before entering into a Q&A session.
Azu Nwagbogu, the curator of The Medium Is The Message, received a Master’s Degree in Public Health from the University of Cambridge. He is the founder and director of African Artists’ Foundation (AAF), a non-profit organisation based in Lagos, Nigeria. Between 2018 and 2019, he acted as the Interim Director and Head Curator of the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art in South Africa. Nwagbogu serves as the founder and director of LagosPhoto Festival and is also the creator of Art Base Africa. For the past two decades, Nwagbogu has curated various prominent private and corporate collections across Africa. He currently lives and works in Lagos, Nigeria.
Barry Yusufu, one of the most exciting participants of The Medium Is The Message, is a self-taught contemporary artist from north-central Nigeria. His work makes use of traditional art materials such as coffee, charcoal, paints, papier-mâché, collage and graphite. The canvases tell stories through imaginative dramatization and vivid colours. Yusufu’s style is known as Contemporary Expressionism; he names it Kolo Art, signifying both madness and sanity.
Scroll down to watch the conversation between Azu Nwagbogu and Barry Yusufu in its entirety.