Nigeria’s potential on the global art scene cannot be overemphasised. Contemporary Nigerian artists engage with issues centred on culture, decolonisation, technology and climate change. However, not much is documented about the women curators, working to advance Nigerian art. 

Revolving Art Incubator (RAI), was founded to help bridge the gap between art and technology. A lens-based artist and curator, Jumoke Sanwo’s interests cut across writing, photography, digital art, NFTs and virtual realities. She talks to AMAKA about her projects and how she’s building a community for NFT artists.

AMAKA: You started as a photographer, how did you transition into curating?

I actually started as a writer, my major at university was English. When I left school, I knew I wanted to do something creative. There were artists but I wasn’t inspired by what I saw, and those that were commercially viable were few. Though we had a couple of galleries, there wasn’t a lot going on and there was no real structure. Setting up RAI., I stepped into that role as a curator based on the needs of the period.

How does your work as an artist impact your curatorial practice?

I understand the nuances of artistic practice, and as a curator, you’re helping artists shape whatever they are exploring. Maybe because I’m also an artist, artists tend to respond positively to my suggestions. You’re speaking their language.

RAI provides a space for artists to be experimental in their approach. How do you identify and select these artists?

We look out for artists who need room to breakthrough. We want artists that are experimental in the kind of materials they explore. Not that we don’t want artists to be commercially viable but we’re not driven by that. This gives them the confidence to explore as much as possible. Artists also get to meet with other creatives outside of their world. We have a lot of self-taught artists, people from different disciplines, who find home in our space. That sort of engagement brings about new perspectives.

In a 2021 interview with Trebuchet, you spoke about the need to have artists who are thinking beyond the construct of blackness. As an artist and curator, how do you navigate an art scene that’s predominantly white?

It’s tricky for me as a Nigerian because I do not see myself through the prism of colour. Our realities are shaped by other markers such as ethnicity, religion, gender. When I’m confronted by issues that have racial undertones, I try to address them from a logical stance. If I’m bringing value to your project you have to acknowledge that. You cannot put me in a position where you feel like you’re doing me a favour. I do not hesitate to deal with those situations case by case. But I don’t set myself up from a place of disprivilege.

You’re constantly finding connections between tech and art. Tell us about your NFT Africa project?

NFT Africa stemmed from the pandemic. I was invited to a conversation with McArt.ist, an incubator for artists. We talked about how traditional artists are transitioning into NFTs. At the time, one of the things I observed was that the same structures that exist in traditional art also exist in digital art. This led to a conversation about having a platform for African artists where they can have access to information. We’ve had sessions on minting and some of our artists have had physical exhibitions and their NFT versions. We realised that we have the numbers, population-wise. If we begin to build a very strong community, then we can start thinking about building our own platform.

NFT is really about tokenising your digital assets and being able to sell it. But if we don’t own the platform, we cannot dictate the value of art. The value of art is not in the primary market, it’s in the secondary market. In the traditional art market, there’s no resale value. But with NFT, each time your work is traded, you get paid.

What are some of the the limitations artists on the continent have to contend with?

There’s a lot of tension between artists and dealers at the moment because artists are beginning to feel like they can do it themselves. But that’s going to kill the industry because the dealers and the curators are not investing in the artist. No one is writing about your work. People are now having exhibitions without catalogues or essays. They just put the work there and the price and move on. There’s a lot going on that I feel like if we’re not careful we will regress.

Some people jump into NFT thinking they’ll immediately start making sales. But it doesn’t work that way. There’s a lot of promotion that goes into NFT. You have to be connected to different networks and the gassing fee is expensive. 

Apart from NFT Africa, what other ways are you innovating with tech in the art scene?

We are working on other projects; we see the connections between NFT and extended realities. Within that alternate space we will need digital assets, that’s where NFT comes in. When people realise that what they’re creating can become a digital asset in the metaverse, it becomes easier. We saw a preview of this during the pandemic when we all moved into the digital space. This is not a phase, but you have to understand where all this is heading. It’s kind of like creating an alternate reality in the digital world. What would inhabit that reality is the question. We need objects, music, stories. When people see it that way then they understand that they need to make that shift. And if we don’t jump on that train now, we’re going to be playing catch up again.