Unexpected Lessons #04, organized by Dr. Mahret Ifeoma Kupka was supported by Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung in Nigeria, and brought together diverse panels of experts in art, culture, and collective organizing, to discuss and share their insights on the timely issue of restitution.

Central to the event were two panel discussions whose panelists included art, culture, and architecture historian Dr. Oluwatoyin Sogbesan, Editor-in-Chief of The Republic Wale Lawal, artist, filmmaker, and G.A.S. Fellow, Femi Johnson, freelance curator Olufisayo Bakare, The Treehouse curator in residence Tracian Meikle, design architect, researcher and G.A.S. alumni Sarafadeen Bello and Brenda Fashugba, an arts manager and professional arts administrator.

The event also featured performances by Ayomide Fasedu and Tolulope Ami-Williams, as well as screenings of films by Femi Johnson and Ariella Aïsha Azoulay.

In 2022 G.A.S. received a donation of a lifelong personal library collection from Professor John Picton and Sue Picton. Its scope includes the visual arts of Sub-Saharan Africa (sculpture, masquerade, textiles), publications dealing with history and archaeology (including Saharan rock art); as well as African American and Black British arts, and more. In 2023, the collection will continue its journey from the Picton family home in Evesham, England to Lagos, Nigeria where it will once again become a point of reference for those wishing to enrich and deepen their knowledge of African history and visual culture. 

The Politics of Fabrics brings together a new body of work developed by artist Samuel Nnorom during his residency at Guest Artists Space Foundation. The sculptural pieces, created almost entirely from pre-owned garments, include an ambitious 25ft site-specific intervention that will be hung on the exterior of the G.A.S. Lagos building.

G.A.S. began working collaboratively with Goodman Gallery in early 2022 following the Foundation's local launch in Nigeria. The resulting opportunities are funded through our Fellowship Platinum Partner donor package, a giving level used to directly support three residency fellowship awards in Nigeria over a three-year period with a focus on African and African Diaspora recipients. In this instance it allows artists who are either represented by or exhibiting with Goodman Gallery to complete a residency at G.A.S.

Nolan Oswald Dennis is a para-disciplinary artist based in Johannesburg, South Africa. Their practice primarily explores ‘a black consciousness of space’ focusing on the material and metaphysical conditions of decolonisation whilst questioning histories of space and time through system-specific, rather than site-specific interventions. Nolan, whose residency starts this week, is supported by Goodman Gallery through our Fellowship Platinum Partner donor package. They are Goodman Gallery's inaugural Artist in Residence at G.A.S. and will be returning to Nigeria later this year to participate in the Lagos Biennial.