This April, Rele enters a season of thoughtful expansion; across continents, across practices, and conversations. As we prepare to participate in Expo Chicago 2025, we continue cultivating dialogues through our exhibitions and public programmes in London, Lagos, and Los Angeles. These engagements reflect Rele’s ongoing commitment to amplifying the voices and visions shaping contemporary art on the African continent and its global diasporas.
For this year’s edition of Expo Chicago, Rele will present works by Peju Alatise, Marcellina Akpojotor, Shinique Smith, Ashley Cole and Tonia Nneji; five formidable Black women artists whose practices traverse personal mythologies, material alchemy, and cultural critique.
Alatise (Nigeria) is known for her richly symbolic constructions, Alatise engages themes of gender, spirituality, and social justice, often centering the Black female body as a site of resistance and transcendence.
Akpojotor (Nigeria) meticulously transforms the Ankara fabric into an abstract language on canvas, bridging the past and the contemporary. Employing collaging and traditional painting techniques, Akpojotor produces richly textured and layered work with compelling visual imagery exploring femininity, personal and societal identity, familial history, and women's empowerment.
Cole (United States) Using interior paint and oil pastels on raw unstretched canvas, Cole delves into the depths of melanin shades, drawing inspiration from the rich tapestry of human experience. The incorporation of marks reminiscent of indigenous cultures serves as a testament to the universal quest for freedom—a journey that transcends time and lineage.
Smith (United States) brings together textile, calligraphy, and gestural abstraction in sculptural forms and large-scale installations. Her work engages the economies of consumption, identity, and spiritual practice, transforming personal and discarded materials into vibrant meditations on connection, ancestry, and transformation.
Tonia Nneji (Nigeria) Known for her use of bold colors and intricate patterns, Nneji’s work explores the relationship between trauma and the female body. Drawing from her experience in dealing with personal health issues, she confronts a culture of suppression and silence on women’s physical and mental health, body autonomy, and sexual harassment in a bid to create safe spaces where conversations can be held freely.
Together, these artists articulate a visual vocabulary that is at once grounded in intimate experience and expansive in its cultural reach. Rele’s booth positions their work in dialogue, each offering a distinct yet complementary interrogation of form, narrative, and Black womanhood.
