Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja
Minister of Arts, Culture and Creative Economy, Hannatu Musawa, has lauded celebrated metal sculptor and environmental artist, Dotun Popoola for his decade long practice of turning what others perceive as waste into compelling works of beauty and cultural significance that place Nigerian creativity on the world stage.
She reiterated this yesterday when she formally opened Reclaimed Beauty: A Dialogue Between Continents — the eighth solo exhibition by Popoola — at The Village by Tikera in Abuja.
“You have elevated departed materials that have been put to waste into meaning and into something that is culturally significant,” Musawa said at the ceremony, adding that Popoola’s work has drawn international attention. “I was in Spain 24 hours ago and people there were talking about your art.”
The minister described the solo exhibition produced by Tikera Africa in partnership with the Scrap Art Museum as model for sustainability.
The exhibition featured large-scale sculptures and installations made from discarded metal and repurposed materials and spotlighted themes of sustainability, transformation and cross cultural exchange while inviting visitors to reconsider notions of waste, value and beauty.
Musawa framed the exhibition within broader government initiatives to grow Nigeria’s cultural economy and boost the country’s soft power under President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope agenda.
After touring the exhibition arena with journalists, Musawa highlighted a memorandum of understanding between the ministry and Tikera Africa to develop The Village as a creative city in Abuja and pledged that the ministry would work to deliver infrastructure at the site in the coming months.
She said she was overwhelmed by the quantum of reclaimed materials reimagined as culture and history, which she said would inspire young people and broaden public appreciation for the creative economy.
“My hope is for as many Nigerians to come and experience the amazing expression of culture, history and creativity that Dotun has shown,” she said, positioning The Village as part of the government’s aim to make Nigeria the cultural hub of Africa.
She urged local and subnational actors to learn from Popoola’s example and explore how reuse and creative placemaking can support tourism, local enterprise and environmental cleanliness.
Founder of Tikera Africa and developer of The Village, Bayo Omoboriowo, described Popoola’s exhibition as “a natural fit” for the site and a demonstration of Tikera’s wider vision of sustainability-driven creative ecosystems.
Omoboriowo said the site transformed from a bushy and overlooked land into a 32 hectare creative campus constructed largely from reclaimed airplanes, shipping containers, train components and other salvaged materials.
“Everything you see here is scrap metal,” he said, urging creatives to see constraints as ladders for innovation. He called Dotun a model of how creativity can move from idea to product and product to industry.
“Dotun exemplifies the energy of turning craft into enterprise. This place is a perfect canvas for people like him, inviting the world to see what we are doing here.”
He also challenged artists and cultural entrepreneurs to open their minds to possibilities and to use local materials and imagination to build sustainable creative businesses.
He described the exhibition as “about possibility — what becomes possible when imagination refuses to accept limits.”
In his remarks, Popoola thanked partners — the federal ministry, the National Gallery of Art, the National Council for Arts and Culture (NCAC), Tikera Africa, GT Agency, the Scrap Art Museum and the Scrap Art Foundation — for their support in making the show possible in a short time.
He stressed the need for stronger institutions, structured funding and clearer export mechanisms to enable artists to sustain careers and access global markets.
A panel that held before the tour brought together curators, institutional advocates and international partners, including a European Union delegation representative who detailed past collaborations and grant programmes that have helped Nigerian artists participate in international exchanges and markets.
Speakers highlighted persistent policy and procedural barriers that limit art exports and global circulation of Nigerian works, calling out unclear permit structures, customs hurdles and underperforming institutional representation abroad. The discussion called for foundations and galleries that can professionalize the sector, raise capital, and help artists exhibit and sell on a global scale.
