Chika Okeke-Agulu

History of Art: Slade Lecture Series

The Slade Lectures, which were founded in pursuance of the will of Felix Slade in 1869,...

Title	Description	People	Date
Slade Lecture Series 2023: Defiant Sculpture: Isek Bodys Kingelez and Mobutu Sese-Seko’s Authenticité, 1990s	Professor Chika Okeke-Agulu argues that the extravagant hypermodernity of Isek Bodys Kingelez’s architectural sculptures, as with segments of popular arts, constitute a distinctive form of imaginative resistance to official culture under Mobutu.	Chika Okeke-Agulu	18 May, 2023
Slade Lecture Series 2023: Drawing the Line: Obiora Udechukwu and Nigeria’s Smiling General 1980s-1990s	In the 1980’s, the painter and poet Obiora Udechukwu (b. 1946), a leading figure of the Nsukka School, was at the height of his powers, with drawings and paintings celebrated for their lyrical power and trenchant social commentary.	Chika Okeke-Agulu	18 May, 2023
Slade Lecture Series 2023: Prison Drawing: Ibrahim El Salahi in Al Nimeiry’s Sudan, 1970s	In this lecture, Professor Chika Okeke-Agulu focuses on the calligraphic figuration of Ibrahim El Salahi (b. 1930), the country’s leading modernist and onetime political prisoner.	Chika Okeke-Agulu	18 May, 2023
Slade Lecture Series 2023: To speak in Parables: Dumile Feni in Hendrik Verwoerd’s South Africa, 1960s	Chika Okeke-Agulu examines art & politics in 1960s South Africa paying particular attention to Hendrik Verwoerd, the self-styled “Great Induna,” & architect of Apartheid, whose assassination in 1966 slowed the triumphant march of Afrikaner racist ideology	Chika Okeke-Agulu	18 May, 2023
Slade Lecture Series 2023: Gazbia Sirry and Egyptian artists in the Nasserite State, 1950s-1960s	Professor Chika Okeke-Agulu follows the formal and tonal shifts in Gazbia Sirry’s work as it responded to, and was shaped by Nasser’s and post-revolutionary Egypt’s political fortunes.	Chika Okeke-Agulu	18 May, 2023
Slade Lecture Series 2023: African Artists in the Age of the Big Man	Okeke-Agulu presents 5 artists whose work exemplify the difficult relationship of art & power as Africa’s decolonization gave way to the emergence of undemocratic polities ruled by charismatic & repressive strongmen in the second half of the 20th century.	Chika Okeke-Agulu	18 May, 2023