Born in 1979 in Nigeria. He lives and works in Lagos, Nigeria.
In his work, Kelani Abass explores the importance of the material heritage and the archive as a link between the past and the present. The photographic image is the starting point for a multi-layered plastic work.
As a creative medium and object of memory, the photographic image is dissected and analysed through the multiplicity of forms that compose it. For his three-dimensional works, the artist uses old portrait photographs, original or reproduced in paint, which he retrieves from the archives inherited from his father's publishing business. Metal typefaces and other elements from the world of printing are added to these compositions. The relationship to memory and the importance of the archive assumes another dimension in his graphic work, where he recreates the image by repeated imprints applied with an ink pad.
Kelani Abass thus brings to light these fragile and personal testimonies of a past time in Nigeria celebrating its independence. In this study of the "manufacture" of the image, the latter appears in its essential function as a support for memory - a fragmentary and multiple memory, rewritten and reassembled by the artist's hands.
Trained at the Yaba College of Technology in Lagos, Kelani Abass has exhibited in Nigeria and internationally. Recent solo exhibitions include [Re:] Entanglements, Contemporary Art and Colonial Archives at the National Museum Lagos in 2020 and If I could save time at the CCA Lagos in 2019.
In 2020 he has been selected to present his work at the 5th Casablanca International Biennale. Kelani Abass has participated in several residencies and workshops including Headlands Center for the Arts, San Francisco, California and Malt Air, Maltfabrikken, Ebetoft, Denmark.
In 2022, Kelani Abass is among the finalists for the first James Barnor Foundation Photography Award. The same year, he exhibited at the MAR museum in Rio. Starting in May 2023, his work will be exhibited as part of the New Photography 2023 exhibition at the MoMA in New York.
CURRICULUM VITAE
SOLO SHOWS
2022
Oxford University, Oxford – UK
Unfolding Layers of Time, ArtX Curated Projects, Lagos - NG
2020
1-54 Christie’s, 31 PROJECT, Paris - FR
Iranti, 31 PROJECT, Paris – FR
2019
[Re:] Entanglements, Contemporary art and Colonial History, National Museum, Lagos – NG
2016
If I could save time, CCA, Lagos – NG
Aso Igba, Art Clip Africa, Lagos – NG
2013
Asiko-evoking personal narratives and collective history, CCA, Lagos – NG
2011
Man & Machine, Omenka Gallery, Lagos – NG
2009
Paradigm Shift, Mydrim Gallery, Lagos – NG
GROUP SHOWS
2023
New Photography 2023, MoMA, New York City - USA
Are We Free to Move About the World: The Passport in Contemporary Art, Florida State University Museum of Fine Arts, Tallahassee - USA
Indigo Waves and Other Stories: Re-Navigating the Afrasian Sea and Notions of Diaspora, Gropius Bau, Berlin - DE
Art Genève, 31 PROJECT, Genève - CH
Effet de Groupe, 31 PROJECT, Paris - FR
Cape Town Art Fair, 31 PROJECT, Cape Town - SA
Art Paris Art Fair, 31 PROJECT, Paris - FR
2022
Um Defeito de Cor, MAR Museum, Rio - BR
Untitled, 31 PROJECT, Miami - USA
Fragments, 31 PROJECT x Galerie Antoine Dupin, Cancale - FR
KIAF, 31 PROJECT, Seoul - KR
[Re:] Entanglements: Colonial Collections in Decolonial Times, Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Cambridge - UK
Subtle Textures, Rele Gallery, Lagos - NG
Cinquième Biennale Internationale de Casablanca – MA
Art Paris Art Fair, 31 PROJECT, Paris – FR
2021
Terrains of Possibility, Rele Gallery, Lagos – NG
South South Vesa, SMO Contemporary, Lagos -NG
Artissima, 31 PROJECT, Turin – IT
Art X Lagos - Guest curated project, Lagos – NG
1-54, 31 PROJECT, Londres – UK
2020
Art Paris Art Fair, 31 PROJECT, Paris - FR
SMALL, 31 PROJECT, Paris – FR
Three Borders, Palais de Lome – TGO
2019
No Room for Fear, SMO Contemporary art, Londres – UK
2018
Contemporaries II, SMO Contemporary art, Lagos – NG
Gallery of Small Things, CCA Lagos, Dakar – SN
2017
Ori Meta, Odun Meta, Ibikan, ISCP, New York – USA
2016
Shades of Time, National Museum, Onikan, Lagos – NG
Ori Meta, Odun Meta, Ibikan, CCA, Lagos – NG
2014
Painting the Cliché, Hohensalzburg Fortress – AU
Art for Peace, African Union, Addis Ababa – ETH
Art for Peace, Damla Art House, Istanbul – TR
Art for Peace, Waldorf Astoria, New York – USA
2012
Live Constructions. Time. Form. Daily, CCA, Lagos – NG
Convergence, Svengali Designs, Omenka Gallery, Lagos – NG
2010
City of a ThoÉtats-Unisnd Masks, Caterina de Medici/3rd Black Heritage
Exhibition, Nike Art Gallery, Lagos – NG
2005
Within Our Grasp, National Museum, Lagos – NG
2002
God of this age, Didi Museum, Lagos – NG
AWARDS
Candidats du prix James Barnor pour la photographie, juillet 2022
WORKSHOPS AND RESIDENCIES
2022
The Room Projects, Bernède – FR
2020
Malt Air, Maltfabrikken, Ebetoft – DK
2018
Headlands Center for the Arts, San Francisco – USA
2014
Salzbourg Int. Summer Academy, Painting the cliché – AU
2013
Professional Development Workshop for artists, CCA, Lagos – NG
2012
4 Weeks International art residency, History/Matter with CCA, Lagos – NG
2010
Residency Programme by CCA & Triangle Workshop – NG
EDUCATION
2007
Yaba College of Technology, Lagos – NG
Higher National Diploma (peinture)
2004
Yaba College of Technology, Lagos, NG
National Diploma (Art Général)
PUBLICATIONS
2021
HISTORIES, The Archival Issue, Foam Magazine
2019
International Perspectives on Publishing Platforms, Image, Object, Text. Analog and Digital Nigeria, Inheriting serial cultures in the work of Kelani Abass by Jennifer Bajorek edited by Meghan Forbes
WITH 31 PROJECT
EXHIBITIONS
2023
Effet de Groupe, group show, Paris - FR
2022
Fragments, group show, Cancale - FR
2020
SMALL, group show, Paris, FR
ARTFAIRS
2023
Art Genève, group show, Genève - CH
Cape Town Art Fair, group show, Cape Town - SA
Art Paris Art Fair, group show, Paris - FR
2022
Untitled, duo show, Miami - USA
KIAF, group show, Seoul - KR
Art Paris Art Fair, group show, Paris - FR
2021
AKAA, group show, Paris - FR
Artissima, group show, Turin - IT
1-54, group show, London - UK
1-54, solo show, Paris - FR
2020
Art Paris Art Fair, group show, Paris - FR
PUBLICATIONS
2020
ÌRÁNTÍ