Aindrea Emelife, the 29-year-old curator of this year’s Nigerian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, which opens next weekend, has a résumé that reads like an art enthusiast’s dream. By 20, she was writing an art column for the Financial Times. At 27, she published her first book, A Brief History of Protest Art. She has organized blockbuster shows, including the 2022 traveling exhibition “Black Venus,” which explored the representation of Black women in art. Last year, Emelife was appointed the curator of modern and contemporary art at Benin City’s new Museum of West African Art (MOWAA), designed by David Adjaye.
Emelife, who splits her time between London and Lagos, is in Venice making last-minute arrangements. Though she sounds relaxed when we speak, she’s under a great deal of pressure. Nigeria has participated in the Biennale only once before, in 2017. At the 2022 Biennale, only 9 of the 54 African countries organized pavilions, while this year, Nigeria is one of 13. The show Emelife presents needs to do justice to both a country and a continent at large.
Emelife chose the title “Nigeria Imaginary” to encourage the eight participating artists, including Precious Okoyomon and Yinka Shonibare, to think of possibilities for a new Nigeria. “When it comes to … Nigerian art, many people still think of painting, specifically figurative painting,” she says. “I wanted to select artists with very varied mediums.”
Growing up in London, Emelife decided she wanted to be an art historian during a childhood trip to the National Portrait Gallery. Her family wasn’t involved in the arts—Emelife was raised by a Nigerian mother who worked in nonprofits. When she was 16, Emelife won a scholarship to Queen’s College, London, one of the only 12 schools in the country that offered an art-history course for A levels, a British state exam. She graduated at the top of her class.
“When it comes to … Nigerian art, many people still think of painting.”
In 2012, Emelife began studying at the Courtauld Institute of Art, where she was the only Black student in her program. She found a Financial Times editor’s e-mail address, “sent over some pitches, and it worked.”
After graduating, in 2015, Emelife curated an exhibition of her friends’ work at a warehouse in Southwark, central London. “I don’t know if it was the boldness of youth, but I really went for it,” she says. “I took chances and hoped someone would say yes.” Up until that point, Emelife had envisioned a career in academia. Staging her first show, she realized she was interested in stringing together the visual elements of a story, not just piecing together its history.
Emelife began organizing a series of guerrilla-style exhibitions around London. Whenever she spotted an empty retail spot, she would call the owners and ask to use the space, telling them, “I’ve got a show idea.” Some landlords called her crazy, but others complied on the condition that she paid for gas and lighting.
The shows quickly attracted the attention of larger institutions, allowing her to skip right over the usual early-career steps of being a curatorial intern and assistant. The turning point came in 2021, when the Perimeter gallery asked her to curate a group show titled “Citizens of Memory,” featuring seasoned artists such as Rachel Jones and Tunji Adeniyi-Jones.
After the Venice Biennale, “Nigeria Imaginary” will travel to MOWAA, where it will go on view in 2025. Emelife hopes her work will draw the seasoned art crowd to Nigeria. “The artistic legacy and art history in Africa are much more layered and rich than many realize, richer than some art-history books might suggest,” she says. “I want to be a part of changing those books.”
The 60th Venice Biennale will open on April 20
Elena Clavarino is a Senior Editor at AIR MAIL