Green Gold

Yinka Shonibare’s new artists’ residency space, in a remote part of Nigeria, offers a lush landscape for cultural and creative discovery

- By Ijeoma Ndukwe. Photographs by Andrew Esiebo

At the end of a powdery orange dirt track, a two-hour drive from Lagos in the village of Ikise, in southwestern Nigeria, sits an earth brick barn house. The jewel in the crown of Ecology Green Farm, it’s a new artists’ residency space established by British-Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare.

Set on the highest point of the farm’s 54 acres of land, surrounded by panoramic views of lush forest, grassland and bush, the building’s laterite shell radiates a warm golden glow in the late morning sun. Myriad butterflies settle and take flight, while the hum of insects, rustling grass and birdsong forms the soundtrack to this country retreat.

The barn house accommodates a studio and living quarters for the participants of the artists-in-residence programme, which launches this spring, offering the opportunity to live and work on-site over a three-month period. Artists also have the option of spending the residency at an alternative location in Lagos, and both sites are run by the Nigeria-based Guest Artists Space (GAS) Foundation, a sister organisation to the Yinka Shonibare Foundation, led by director Belinda Holden. ‘We should all be closer to nature,’ says Shonibare, as he reflects on Ecology Green Farm’s remote location. ‘It’s an excellent environment for artists to be inspired and work, and to have some quiet.’