Mixed-media artiste Abdulsalam Abdul has stated that survival instincts are driving Nigerians amid crushing hardship, while poverty, fear and pervasive uncertainty have become defining features of daily life, yet resilience remains the prevailing response among ordinary citizens.
Abdul made this known while speaking to journalists ahead of his debut exhibition, which opens August 1 at the Nike Art Gallery in Abuja and runs through August 15. The show, titled “Nike Art Gallery Abuja Artists Spotlight (Beyond the Gallery),” features works constructed from discarded tissue paper rolls, acrylic and found materials.
”Their strength and determination become a powerful testament to the human spirit,” he said, adding that his work seeks to bear witness to those whose lives often go unnoticed.
According to him, his practice occupies a space between sculpture and painting, employing unconventional materials to build portraits that interrogate identity, value and belonging. Hollow tissue rolls serve as fragments of memory, while layered compositions reflect on what the artist describes as the fragile architecture of human existence.
Key series including Which Me Today?, Crowned by Choice and The Headless Shopper present identity as an evolving conversation shaped by circumstance rather than a fixed condition. Crowns function as metaphors for self-determination, while geometric arrangements point to social systems that influence perception and status.
Abdul said his artistic philosophy is straightforward: “I create art for those whose lives often go unnoticed and who are rarely acknowledged.” By elevating discarded materials into objects of contemplation, he questions society’s tendency to assign worth based on utility or appearance.
The exhibition also serves as Abdul’s formal bid for permanent representation at the prestigious Nike Art Gallery, a milestone he hopes will cement his place among Nigeria’s foremost contemporary artists.
He called on audiences to consider the humanity embedded within discarded surfaces, transforming what society casts aside into enduring objects that restore honour to lives too frequently ignored.
