The past quarter has been a busy period for MOWAA as we count down to our 11 November 2025 opening with a full programme to be announced soon. Construction and installations are nearing completion, Nigeria Imaginary: Homecoming is taking form on site, and our research labs are now fully operational. Alongside this, MOWAA has launched new collaborations: from conservation work with Tate Modern and artist residencies to the debut of our satellite programme, MOWAA Meets, We are setting the stage for an exciting new chapter ahead.
MOWAA Opens 11 November 2025

Since our inception in 2020, we have worked toward this moment: the official opening of the MOWAA’s Institute and the first phase of our Campus. Alongside our inaugural exhibition, Nigeria Imaginary: Homecoming, and our first historical collections display, expect a dynamic programme of exhibition tours, talks, workshops and social events across the MOWAA Campus and downtown Benin City. 

Plan Your Visit

With the opening of our doors this November, final preparations are in full swing at the MOWAA Institute. Designed by Adjaye Associates, the Welcome Pavilion is nearing completion and will become a key feature of the MOWAA campus. Composed of earthen walls, it will provide a striking setting for some of the outdoor installations of the Nigeria Imaginary: Homecoming and other site-specific works that engage directly with the surrounding landscape. 

In addition, in an act of restorative assertion, we are adapting one of the colonial buildings on our campus to serve as a new site for creative production and gathering space. Led by our architectural partners, MOE+, the Artists Studio + Cafe will open in early 2026, equipped with four artist studios, an exhibition space, a café and semi-enclosed gardens.

Beyond these new initiatives, we have officially moved into the MOWAA Institute! Our teams are actively preparing spaces for object installation, supported by rigorous environmental monitoring to safeguard collections, with the near-complete installation of MOWAA’s custom vitrines by the Milan-based Goppion team, which houses key works in our inaugural displays. With our science labs and temperature-controlled collections storage in use, we have immensely ramped up our research and conservation capabilities. 
To top it all off, the arrival of Nigeria Imaginary: Homecoming artworks is well underway, some of which will be displayed against striking rammed-earth walls that form part of the exhibition’s design, marking the final steps toward this landmark opening. 

A newly activated part of the Institute, the MOWAA Paleoenvironmental Lab is dedicated to analysing environmental evidence from archaeological contexts to help us better understand past landscapes and human–environment interactions. Going beyond reconstructing ancient ecosystems, our team has been investigating culinary practices, subsistence strategies, and, in some cases, trade networks and migration patterns of past societies. Through careful analysis, we can even develop the vegetation histories of specific regions, offering insights into how environments and human relationships with them have changed over time. 
Currently, the lab is conducting both micro- and macro- botanical analysis on samples recovered from recent excavations – predominately seed, charcoal, oil remnants baked into pottery shards – generated from our very own site. These studies help us identify organic remains that were cultivated or consumed in the past, enriching our understanding of ancient culinary and agricultural practices. So far, several seeds have been successfully identified — and we look forward to even more discoveries.

This quarter, MOWAA welcomed its firsts artists-in-residence, marking a milestone in our journey as an institution dedicated to centering the perspectives of artists and creatives. In September, British-Nigerian painter Tunji Adeniyi-Jones joined us for his first visit to Benin City, producing a site-specific commission for the Institute’s Library: the first permanent artwork on our campus and a highlight of Nigeria Imaginary: Homecoming. 

Working alongside four young painters from Benin City (Chioma, Elijah, Ogechukwu, and Tojah) Tunji’s residency fostered a dynamic exchange between established and emerging talent, enriching local artistic practice and connecting global narratives with our growing creative community. 

This month, we are delighted to have Inua Ellams MBE as our resident artist. A celebrated poet, playwright, and multidisciplinary artist, Inua is developing his project, Stained Metal, in collaboration with brasscaster Phil Omodamwen. The work reimagines Inua’s MBE medal as a way of questioning and reframing colonial honours, linking Benin’s metalworking heritage to contemporary reflections on identity, legacy, and belonging. During his stay, Inua will also host community workshops, write new poetry, and engage with staff across campus.

Tate Modern’s Nigerian Modernism (8 October 2025 – 10 May 2026) celebrates the bold achievements of Nigerian artists before and after independence in 1960. Supporting the exhibition, MOWAA carried out the conservation of landmark Nigerian Modernist Ben Enwonwu’s Negritude (1985), stabilising fragile paint layers on seven artworks, ensuring their long-term preservation and artistic integrity. 
The restoration of Enwonwu’s Negritude was carried out over two weeks by the MOWAA Conservation team under the sponsorship of Goethe-Institut Nigeria and the National Gallery of Art (NGA), Nigeria. The team also carried out pre-condition-checks and treated several important works loaned to the exhibition, including pieces by Jacob Afolabi, Adebisi Fabunmi, Okpu Eze, Akinola Lasekan, Uche Okeke, and Nigeria Imaginary featured artist, Ndidi Dike.  
Through this collaboration, MOWAA contributed to the preservation and international showcasing of Nigeria’s modernist heritage, reinforcing its commitment to conservation excellence and capacity building in West Africa. 

MOWAA Welcomes Danish Ambassador On-Site
The Danish Ambassador, His Excellency Jens Ole Bach Hansen, paid a visit to MOWAA’s facilities this month, where he was given a tour of the campus and met with members of the MOWAA team to learn more about our mission, programmes, and growing network of partnerships. The visit provided an opportunity to exchange ideas on areas of mutual interest and potential collaboration, particularly in the fields of cultural preservation, education, and innovation. It forms part of ongoing discussions with the Embassy of Denmark as we explore opportunities to work together.

Bringing MOWAA’s expertise and ethos directly to audiences across Nigeria and beyond, MOWAA Meets is our new satellite programme. The inaugural edition, MOWAA Meets: Lagos, took place in September, comprising a three-day series of workshops and talks guest curated by Lagos-based art advisor and cultural strategist Sunshine Alaibe, alongside Ore Disu, Director of the MOWAA Institute. This first edition explored the enduring connections between Benin City and Lagos, two historic cultural centres whose exchanges have shaped the region for centuries. 
Over three days, the programme wove together workshops and talks examining heritage as a living, participatory practice. The first day featured an archaeology session with MAD House by Tikera Africa and Yaba Art Museum, where Bolatito Aderemi, MOWAA’s Public Practice Associate, invited students to uncover hidden stories from overlooked materials, against the backdrop of an archaeological display and a montage of archival keepsakes curated by Archivi.Ng – a Lagos-based digital archiving collective. 

This was followed by the Conservator’s Choice workshop with Yetunde Odediran, Associate Conservator at MOWAA, reflecting on preservation as a shared, long-term responsibility. The evening culminated in Lagos-based artist Stacey Ravvero’s participatory performance, where guests used breathwork and clay to create a collective, temporary archive of presence.

Day two opened with Remapping the Nigerian Imaginary, a talk by MOWAA Contemporary & Modern Curator Aindrea Emelife on curatorial practice and national memory, and concluded with an exhibition titled A Collective Remembering at CCA Lagos, guiding guests through the institution’s archive, connecting physical and digital traces through collective reflection. 

This year’s Unearth Fellowship Programme launched in May, offering 16 early-career professionals and postgraduate students the opportunity to engage in research and preservation, in partnership with NCMM and the British Museum.

In August, fellows arrived in Benin City to join us on campus for three weeks of immersive, hands-on learning as part of the MOWAA Archaeology Project. During their learning placement, they shadowed experts across various workstreams (including the MOWAA Institute’s Pottery Lab, Finds Management, and Conservation teams) to understand how archaeological materials are processed after excavation and prepared for storage or exhibition.  
The experience also introduced fellows to MOWAA’s Education and Public Programme workstream, where they explored how archaeology connects with people and why public engagement is key to preserving shared heritage. Through workshops and discussions, fellows gained insight into how community collaboration strengthens understanding and appreciation of archaeological research.

Building on this experience, the fellows are now developing public engagement and exhibition projects that celebrate the legacy of archaeological research in Benin City. Their work revisits the landmark excavations carried out in the 1960s and 1970s by pioneering archaeologists such as Graham Connah, Frank Willett, Lima Chiroma, and A.G.H. Goodwin, while linking these historic efforts to MOWAA’s ongoing research.