Fakeye x hunt
What Defines an Artist?
Artists of African descent — wherever they may be in the world — often find themselves trailed by an unshakable question: What defines them as an a artist? It clings to them like a shadow. What if definition escapes them? What if their very essence lies in evasion, in becoming, in unbecoming?
This summer, I encountered two deeply moving exhibitions — a pair of master sculptors celebrated not posthumously, but within their lifetimes. A rare and powerful thing.
Lamidi Fakeye x Richard Hunt
At Tafeta Gallery in London, the work of icon Lamidi Fakeye was on view as part of the gallery’s eponymous series — a monumental moment. Fakeye, an inheritor of an multi-generational lineage of Yoruba craftsmanship, is revered for his spiritually grounded sculptures rooted in Yoruba mythology. His Arugba Osun series, in particular, is a marvel: a visual hymn to ritual, myth, and the skilled hands that still carve these narratives into wood today.
Even in his early years — when his practice was restricted to Christian motifs — Fakeye’s ancestral roots remained intact, not as subtle hints, but as a defiant, embracing core. He carved with reverence, pride, and clarity. His legacy, like that of the Benin Bronzes, continues to shape how African contemporary art is seen.
Across town at White Cube Bermondsey was a retrospective of Richard Hunt — and what a contrast it was. At first glance, Hunt’s abstract steel sculptures don’t shout “Black artist.” There are no overt references to Black identity, no recognizable figuration tied to race. And yet, his work is deeply political — flowing with the spirit of Black-American resistance, movement, and emancipation.
Growing up under Jim Crow wasn’t an adjunct to Hunt’s life. It was foundational. His sculptures, however, don’t wear trauma as a costume. Instead, they wield abstraction like a weapon — graceful, unapologetic, and boundaryless. His forms feel aspirational, free of labels, yet profoundly shaped by lived experience. Is this what freedom tastes like?
