In September 2025, 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. 

In October 2025, MOWAA welcomed Inua Ellams MBE as our resident artist. A celebrated poet, playwright, and multidisciplinary artist, Inua worked on campus, developing his project, 'Stained Metal'.

MOWAA carried out conservation on landmark painting Ben Enwonwu’s “Negritude”, now featured in the Nigerian Modernism exhibition at Tate Modern. The conservation of this particular piece was done in collaboration with Goethe-Institut, the National Gallery Arts, Nigeria and Julia Nagle Conservation who provided technical expertise and guidance. A number of other works loaned to Tate were condition-checked and treated by MOWAA’s conservation team, bringing various private collectors, institutions and practitioners together.

Unearth is an annual educational programme, delivered in the context of a four-year partnership with the National Commission for Museums and Monuments, the British Museum, and its partners. The initiative offers postgraduate students and early-career professionals across Nigeria a unique opportunity to engage in archaeological research, heritage preservation, and public engagement. Designed to push the boundaries of public archaeology and deepen understanding of Benin City’s rich cultural and historical landscape, the Unearth Fellowship immerses participants in field research, conservation techniques, as well as community visits and exchanges.

MOWAA’s annual Futures of Archaeology seminar offers cultural heritage professionals from West Africa the chance to attend a two-day event dedicated to advancing archaeological research and fostering collaboration in West Africa, with a particular focus on recent practice in Nigeria and Ghana. Our 2024 edition was supported by the German Archaeological Institute (DAI) as part of the Edo|cation project.

Working alongside Edo State Parks and Agency and the National Institute of Landscape Horticulturists of Nigeria, MOWAA has worked with local stakeholders to plant over 2,000 trees across the MOWAA Campus and Ogbe Community while documenting the oral histories and folklore connected to Benin’s indigenous tree species.

In collaboration with the British Museum and the National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM), the MOWAA Archaeology Project represents one of the most extensive pre-construction archaeological excavations in Benin City since the 1960s. This is an ambitious 5-year research programme that aims to illuminate the ancient kingdom of Benin, delving into its historical arts traditions, urban evolution, and cultural development.

Mapping the great pre-colonial urban centre of sub-Saharan Africa, MOWAA has used satellite imagery and aerial photography to map the surviving sections of the Benin moats. MOWAA is planning to use laser technology in the coming years to provide further insights, and make visible earthworks hidden beneath the canopy of the tropical forest.

Responding to the need for greater understanding and preservation of West African plaques, MOWAA’s Digital Lab embarked on a groundbreaking journey, traversing 11 institutions across the West and scanning over 160 artifacts, providing skills-transfer opportunities along the way.

As part of the curatorial research into the Nigeria Pavilion's core themes of nostalgia and utopia, MOWAA presented the Nigeria Imaginary Incubator Project at ART X Lagos 2023. In this interactive installation, a range of visitors to ART X, including artists, students, and art enthusiasts were able to interact with these themes through a series of short prompts such as “What does Nigeria taste like?”. This archive of stories, memories, and dreams was used to inform the curation of the Nigeria Pavilion.

Precious Okoyomon’s installation for Nigeria Imaginary: Homecoming merges sound, nature, and sculpture to explore how collective dreaming might take physical form. Acting simultaneously as instrument and transmitter, the structure transforms atmospheric change into sound while broadcasting the voices of Nigerian poets, artists, and writers reflecting on being, belonging, and becoming. The installation is titled Pre-Sky/Emit Light: Yes Like That, 2024.

At the Nigeria Pavilion in Venice, organised by MOWAA, musician Made Kuti created a powerful set inspired by the themes of Nigeria Imaginary — from post-independence optimism to the energy of a nation redefining itself. His performance bridged the present with the legacy of his grandfather Fela, who embodied the emergence of a new Nigeria.

Produced in collaboration with Boy Brother Friend, MOWAA began conceptualising a rap cypher earlier this year aimed at platforming emerging voices from Benin City and broader Nigeria. Filmed in late October at the MOWAA Campus, the project brought together musical artists Ladipoe, Magnito, Mo Fame, Ill Bliss and Duno: five rappers from across the country reimagining the nation through rhythm and lyricism.