Untitled, 2018
Peju Alatise is a Nigerian multidisciplinary artist, poet, and writer whose practice spans sculpture, mixed media, and literature. Trained as an architect at Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, she brings a strong structural and conceptual rigour to her work, which she has developed through over two decades of studio practice.
Deeply influenced by Yoruba culture, mythology, and literature, Alatise’s work interrogates political, religious, and social realities in Nigeria, with a particular focus on women’s rights and African feminism. Her practice positions art as a tool for storytelling, resistance, and social engagement.
Alatise represented Nigeria at the 57th Venice Biennale (Viva Arte Viva), becoming one of the first Nigerian artists to participate in the exhibition. Her acclaimed installation Flying Girls (a group of life-size winged figures) addresses themes of childhood, freedom, gender inequality, and social injustice. In 2017, she was awarded the FNB Art Prize.
She is a fellow of the National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, and the founder of the ANAI Foundation, a non-profit organisation dedicated to supporting and developing visual artists in Nigeria.