Los Angeles-based multidisciplinary artist, Umar Rashid is a painter and installation artist whose work illustrates alternative historical narratives, most notably, his fictional Frenglish Empire (1648 - 1880). His reappropriations of world histories explore the intricacies of race, gender, class, and power. His chosen iconography is simultaneously evocative of contemporary and historical imagery.

Unexpected Lessons #04, organized by Dr. Mahret Ifeoma Kupka was supported by Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung in Nigeria, and brought together diverse panels of experts in art, culture, and collective organizing, to discuss and share their insights on the timely issue of restitution.

Central to the event were two panel discussions whose panelists included art, culture, and architecture historian Dr. Oluwatoyin Sogbesan, Editor-in-Chief of The Republic Wale Lawal, artist, filmmaker, and G.A.S. Fellow, Femi Johnson, freelance curator Olufisayo Bakare, The Treehouse curator in residence Tracian Meikle, design architect, researcher and G.A.S. alumni Sarafadeen Bello and Brenda Fashugba, an arts manager and professional arts administrator.

The event also featured performances by Ayomide Fasedu and Tolulope Ami-Williams, as well as screenings of films by Femi Johnson and Ariella Aïsha Azoulay.

In 2022 G.A.S. received a donation of a lifelong personal library collection from Professor John Picton and Sue Picton. Its scope includes the visual arts of Sub-Saharan Africa (sculpture, masquerade, textiles), publications dealing with history and archaeology (including Saharan rock art); as well as African American and Black British arts, and more. In 2023, the collection will continue its journey from the Picton family home in Evesham, England to Lagos, Nigeria where it will once again become a point of reference for those wishing to enrich and deepen their knowledge of African history and visual culture. 

The Politics of Fabrics brings together a new body of work developed by artist Samuel Nnorom during his residency at Guest Artists Space Foundation. The sculptural pieces, created almost entirely from pre-owned garments, include an ambitious 25ft site-specific intervention that will be hung on the exterior of the G.A.S. Lagos building.

G.A.S. began working collaboratively with Goodman Gallery in early 2022 following the Foundation's local launch in Nigeria. The resulting opportunities are funded through our Fellowship Platinum Partner donor package, a giving level used to directly support three residency fellowship awards in Nigeria over a three-year period with a focus on African and African Diaspora recipients. In this instance it allows artists who are either represented by or exhibiting with Goodman Gallery to complete a residency at G.A.S.

Nolan Oswald Dennis is a para-disciplinary artist based in Johannesburg, South Africa. Their practice primarily explores ‘a black consciousness of space’ focusing on the material and metaphysical conditions of decolonisation whilst questioning histories of space and time through system-specific, rather than site-specific interventions. Nolan, whose residency starts this week, is supported by Goodman Gallery through our Fellowship Platinum Partner donor package. They are Goodman Gallery's inaugural Artist in Residence at G.A.S. and will be returning to Nigeria later this year to participate in the Lagos Biennial.

To be a great artist requires more than creating compelling images, objects, spaces, or scenarios—one must be a kind of visionary, an enchanter, and grapple with issues of an entirely different order.

Our newest G.A.S. Fellowship resident Samuel Nnorom had a busy year in 2022 showing his work extensively in Nigeria at Kó Gallery, Alexis Galleries, and ART X Lagos as well as further afield at AKAA Art Fair in France. 2023 looks set to be an equally exciting year for the artist and the first chapter of that journey lies in his one-month residency at G.A.S. Lagos. It will be the first time that Nnorom, typically based in Nsukka, will be able to make work in and in response to Nigeria's biggest city.

On 2nd January Dr Mahret Ifeoma Kupka landed in Lagos under a harmattan sky ready to embark on her long-anticipated two-month residency at G.A.S. Lagos. She is the final Germany-based curator to join us as part of the TURN2 Programme. The initiative, developed by the German Federal Cultural Fund, was conceived to facilitate artistic co-creation between Germany and African countries. Here she shares insights into her practice and hopes for the next eight weeks.

As we launch our 2023 programme, we wanted to take the opportunity to thank the incredible residents whose commitment and enthusiastic participation lie at the heart of everything we've been able to achieve in our inaugural year. ⁠Their drive, energy, ambition, and ideas continue to inspire us and have been invaluable in helping us shape Guest Artists Space. ⁠

Queering the Subversive Dye: Thoughts on Textile and Gender was the second event in a two-part series hosted by Miriam Bettin to mark the end of her residency at G.A.S. The event revolved around a conversation with Matthew Blaise, Dolapo Osunsina, Adebayo Quadry-Adekanbi, Zee and Adeju Thompson that was focused on textiles and gender whilst touching on questions of spiritual practices, pre-colonial queer politics, gender identities and performance, as well as degendering fashion.