Chika Okeke-Agulu

History of Art: Slade Lecture Series

The Slade Lectures, which were founded in pursuance of the will of Felix Slade in 1869, focused on art historical topics, as they continue...

Title	Description	People	Date
Slade Lecture Series 2023: Defiant Sculpture: Isek Bodys Kingelez and Mobutu Sese-Seko’s Authenticité, 1990s	Professor Chika Okeke-Agulu argues that the extravagant hypermodernity of Isek Bodys Kingelez’s architectural sculptures, as with segments of popular arts, constitute a distinctive form of imaginative resistance to official culture under Mobutu.	Chika Okeke-Agulu	18 May, 2023
Slade Lecture Series 2023: Drawing the Line: Obiora Udechukwu and Nigeria’s Smiling General 1980s-1990s	In the 1980’s, the painter and poet Obiora Udechukwu (b. 1946), a leading figure of the Nsukka School, was at the height of his powers, with drawings and paintings celebrated for their lyrical power and trenchant social commentary.	Chika Okeke-Agulu	18 May, 2023
Slade Lecture Series 2023: Prison Drawing: Ibrahim El Salahi in Al Nimeiry’s Sudan, 1970s	In this lecture, Professor Chika Okeke-Agulu focuses on the calligraphic figuration of Ibrahim El Salahi (b. 1930), the country’s leading modernist and onetime political prisoner.	Chika Okeke-Agulu	18 May, 2023
Slade Lecture Series 2023: To speak in Parables: Dumile Feni in Hendrik Verwoerd’s South Africa, 1960s	Chika Okeke-Agulu examines art & politics in 1960s South Africa paying particular attention to Hendrik Verwoerd, the self-styled “Great Induna,” & architect of Apartheid, whose assassination in 1966 slowed the triumphant march of Afrikaner racist ideology	Chika Okeke-Agulu	18 May, 2023
Slade Lecture Series 2023: Gazbia Sirry and Egyptian artists in the Nasserite State, 1950s-1960s	Professor Chika Okeke-Agulu follows the formal and tonal shifts in Gazbia Sirry’s work as it responded to, and was shaped by Nasser’s and post-revolutionary Egypt’s political fortunes.	Chika Okeke-Agulu	18 May, 2023
Slade Lecture Series 2023: African Artists in the Age of the Big Man	Okeke-Agulu presents 5 artists whose work exemplify the difficult relationship of art & power as Africa’s decolonization gave way to the emergence of undemocratic polities ruled by charismatic & repressive strongmen in the second half of the 20th century.	Chika Okeke-Agulu	18 May, 2023