‘The Earth Holds Our Names’ opens at SOTO Gallery this April

…As Olumide Onadipe unveils his creative self

Once again, SOTO Gallery is opening its creative doors to lovers of art and the general public for its first exhibition of the year.

Titled ‘The Earth Holds Our Names’, the exhibition is a solo show by Olumide Onadipe, a gifted contemporary artist.

The exhibition, which is being curated by SOTO Gallery’s Uchechukwu Obasi, runs from April 19 until May 31, 2026, at the gallery, located on 10 Omo Osagie Street, Ikoyi, Lagos.

On display at the exhibition are over 20 works, made from unconventional materials like dyed newspaper, nylon, and drink foils, across different media of artistic expression by Onadipe, whose creative ingenuity is breathtaking.

Speaking at a media parley at the gallery recently, heralding the exhibition, the gallery insisted that Onadipe’s works are a must-see as the exhibition, which is rooted in the indigenous Yoruba worldview, considers the cyclical nature of existence across generations and historically layered spaces.

The gallery is further excited over Onadipe’s approaches to his practice as both a keeper of space and a narrator of time, while also tracing the continuities between ancestral knowledge and contemporary life.

SOTO Gallery also highlighted the fact that through the use of unconventional materials like dyed newspaper, nylons, and drink foils, the exhibiting artist, whose wife is also an artist, constructs intricate sculptural forms that balance playfulness with socio-political resonance.

“His works resist direct declaration, instead unfolding through texture, form, and suggestive titles that invite layered interpretation,” the gallery noted while inviting guests to engage with Onadipe’s meditative exploration of memory, materiality, and cultural continuity at the ‘The Earth Holds Our Names’ exhibition.

Expressing his excitement for the forthcoming exhibition during the media parley, Onadipe, who is known for his idiosyncratic sculptural language and mastery of transforming everyday materials—dyed and rolled newspaper, nylons, and drink foils bound with galvanized wire—into textured, evocative forms, noted that the works are coming from the depth of his creative juices, amid salient messages, quality engagement and excitement for the viewers.

His focus on the material is evident. Offering details for some of the works, like the one titled ‘Eko Bridge’, a hairstyle, he noted that Eko is beyond just a bridge as it stretches across the lagoon, linking mainland and island, ensuring movement and stillness, departure and arrival.

“It is more than infrastructure; it is a passage, a joining of worlds that might otherwise remain apart,” he said.

Metaphorically, the sculpture, according to him, draws from the gesture of connection. “It stands not only as a reference to an architectural structure, but as a tribute to the enduring mystery of life, where the spiritual and physical are forever intertwined, and where the feminine remains the quiet, powerful passage between worlds”.

In the series he titled “It is Green on the other side”, the artist explained they explore migration, with a particular focus on the Japa phenomenon, a growing reality that continues to drain Nigeria of the skilled and qualified individuals vital to shaping its future.

The series, according to him, interrogates the allure of greener pastures abroad while reflecting on the social, economic, and emotional implications of this mass movement. “It raises critical questions about loss, ambition, survival, and identity, presenting migration not just as a physical relocation, but as a complex and deeply personal journey”.

In another series titled “The Moon Love Still Lingers”, the artist noted that the moon love lingers still, long after the night has drawn its indigo cloth across the sky. “It settles softly on corrugated rooftops, along carved wooden doors, in the quiet space between two steady breaths”.

Other works include: Opa Ase (Staff of Authority), Lines and Identities, Cityscape, Ancestral Tree, Dimensions, Hormuz Island, Red-Oxide and the Ocean, Whispers of the Drum, Ori, among others.

He awaits your visit.

Once again, the exhibition runs from April 19 until May 31, 2026, at SOTO Gallery on 10 Omo Osagie Street, Ikoyi, Lagos.