The residential building with which the gallery shares a sizeable compound stands out in its environment on account of its fresh white paint, elegant palm trees and sleek glass windows.
The title of the second show is from Mary McCarthy’s debut novel, The Company She Keeps, a series of six cleverly interlinked New York short stories, which made nearly as much of a splash when it was published in 1942. Materially and collectively, their works draw attention to intimacy, reparative approaches and the valourisation of labour.
Forrester’s work subsists in the worlds of emotions that equal the seriousness that parents, lovers and friends encounter. Omuku presents Candyscape , which adapts her interests in the politico-cultural representations of the figurative body to comprehend the psychotherapeutic impact of landscape on the psyche.
The founder of Tiwani, Varnava, a member of the team of art practitioners, curators, artists and gallerists, who have ushered in a new trend in visual landscaping of Nigeria, explains that the gallery is helping to revitalise the contemporary art scene in the world’s most populous black nation. “We need more rigorous support, and for collectors to support older but also a younger generation of artists,” she adds. “That is very necessary for the longevity of this moment.
Her encounter with the late Nigerian curator, founder and director of Centre for Contemporary Arts , Bisi Silva, in 2008, influenced the birth of Tiwani Contemporary.