ARTISTIC FREEDOM

In Lagos, Nigeria, Yinka Shonibare establishes a trailblazing creative retreat for himself and others

- LOLA OGUNNAIKE

In 2014, the celebrated British Nigerian multidisciplinary artist Yinka Shonibare returned to his hometown of Lagos for the first time in more than two decades. He hosted a symposium that proved both game-changing for those in attendance and lifealtering for him. “The talk was packed with young artists, and I realized that there was a need here; young artists needed to be mentored,” he says.

He flirted with the idea of erecting a museum of contem porary art, but ultimately decided that a “grassroots” approach would be more impactful on the local creative ecosystem. In 2019, he founded Guest Artists Space (GAS) Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to research, facilitating international cultural exchange, and—with the opening of its two locations in 2022—fostering the next generation of creatives through 4-to-12-week residencies.

While ambitious in scale, Shonibare’s goal for the residency is simple. Nigeria is “a fairly conservative culture, and I want artists to feel that they can actually move beyond the boundaries of what’s expected of them, to start thinking outside of the box,” he explains. “You have a space in which you can experiment, and hopefully being able to explore without financial pressures will then lead to discovery.”