Founded by Dolapo Obat to provide a unique and meaningful contemporary art gallery to Abuja residents and tourists, the gallery exhibits and sells Contemporary Art. We also represent Contemporary African Artists working in a wide range of media. By promoting artists through exhibitions, events, seminars, books and catalogues and facilitating an ongoing dialogue between these artists and the public, Dolapo Obat Gallery works to encourage the patronage of Contemporary African Art nationally and internationally.
Dolapo Obat Gallery is proud to say that we support many talented African artists and encourage them to create art. We have liaised with various artists, who we work with, to curate art exhibitions such as the ‘Responsive Eye’ and ‘Her Wish’ exhibitions. Our vision is to build the Contemporary African Art scene by building relationships and networks with the general public, embassies, the media, high net-worth individuals, government and private organisations nationally and internationally.
Vibrant communities create better cities and better cities create better citizens.
We offer a dynamic and constantly evolving program - to educate the community in the arts, and to build a lifelong audience for Contemporary African Art in Nigeria and globally. Evidence demonstrates that people with high levels of arts participation outperform "arts- poor" people by virtually every measure. The arts provide people with authentic learning experiences that engage their minds, hearts, and bodies. Arts education helps people learn; it can enhance creativity, self-discipline, and the skills and confidence necessary to meet the challenges encountered in daily life. Exhibitions at Dolapo Obat Gallery weave tales radically different from the African narrative of despair, educating people on the beauty and catharsis of art, thus contributing to positive mental emancipation and social change.
HEAD CURATOR & DIRECTOR
Dolapo Obat is a Writer, Visual Artist, Entrepreneur and Engineer living in London, England.
He grew up in Abuja, Nigeria, and later moved to Manchester, England, when he was 16 to pursue higher education. He is now a graduate of the University of Manchester with a Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering and a Master’s degree in International Business and Management – for which he spent a semester in Sydney, Australia, as an exchange student at the University of New South Wales.
Art has always been his real passion, and his dream in life is to leave a legacy in the arts. To further his passion, he studied part-time and during summers to develop his creative skills. He studied photography at London School of Photography; fashion editorial at Paris College of Art; and creative direction at Central Saint Martins.
He is fervent about image-making and insightful storytelling focused on dichotomy. He is mostly influenced by soul music that uses cultural commentary as a tool for contemplation and performance art that strains the limits of the body and the potentialities of the mind. Furthermore, he enjoys critically acclaimed books and films embedded in abstract and epistemological themes, exploring human morality, the pliable nature of individual identity, and the psychological and philosophical effect of birth, love and death.
CURATOR
Susa Rodriguez-Garrido currently lives in Abuja, Nigeria, after living in London, UK, for several years, where she has been working in the art publishing world, both in the print and digital sectors. She has extensive experience working for several art publishing companies in London as a Print and Digital Editor, developing print and digital materials. She presently works as a Digital Manager and as an Art Representative and Curator for different artists in Abuja. She also collaborates very closely with art organisations and different embassies.
While living in Abuja, she has founded Agama Art Publishing & Agency Ltd, an independent publishing company and agency about African artists, which combines her passion for art and books. She is also an artist in her own right with an interest in children’s stories, animation, comics and everything related to art.