Earlier this month, we had the pleasure of welcoming British-Nigerian artist Ranti Bam for a week-long residency at G.A.S. Foundation. Based in France, her work spans sculpture, installation, and performance. In her practice she works primarily with clay to explore holding, presence, and becoming through hand-built forms that carry both strength and vulnerability. Working with red and black clays, materials closely aligned with her African identity, she creates sculptural works that move between the figurative and the abstract. She was recently invited to the 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia by the late Koyo Kouoh.

In December 2025, G.A.S. Foundation, in partnership with Yinka Shonibare Foundation, launched the fourth edition of the G.A.S. Fellowship Award. This year’s call, the largest to date, included multiple categories for fully funded residencies at G.A.S. Lagos. Residency A was initially designed to support two emerging Nigerian artists, while Residency B was dedicated to one art writer based in Nigeria or the diaspora.

Last week, we welcomed Jonathan Chambalin, a multidisciplinary artist, photographer, and researcher, to G.A.S. Lagos as a recipient of the G.A.S. Fellowship Award 2026. Based in Lagos, Jonathan works across installation, cinemagraphs, sound art, painting, photography, and kinetic sculpture. His practice explores how everyday Nigerian materials and craft processes can be transformed into works that examine social, cultural, and environmental relationships, with a focus on labour and sustainability.

The Foundation’s inclusion in the Biennale Arte 2026, titled In Minor Keys, reflects its ongoing commitment to bringing together artists and thinkers, fostering cultural dialogue, care, and exchange across local and international contexts. Kouoh’s invitation to be part of the Main Exhibition recognises the residency not simply as a support structure, but as a practice in its own right, and a site of research, and sustained engagement that generates meaning through dialogue and shared inquiry.