Ben Uri Research Unit

Born: 1994 London, England

Biography

Artist Ayo Akingbade was born to Nigerian parents in London, England in 1994, growing up in the East London borough of Hackney. She studied film at the London College of Communication, before undertaking postgraduate training at the Royal Academy Schools, London (2018–21). In interviews, Akingbade has described her early motivation as centred on making work grounded in her own experiences, rather than pursuing conventional notions of success within the film industry (Aesthetica, 2022). Entering the field as a young Black woman, she encountered assumptions shaped by institutional and social expectations, experiences that informed her awareness of how background, language, and environment influence professional perception (Guardian 2021).

Akingbade describes herself as ‘an artist who makes films’ (Dalton, 2022). Her practice spans moving image and installation and addresses themes of power, history, urban space, and social legacy. Drawing on her upbringing in Hackney, she often focuses on communities connected to London’s council housing, approaching these environments from a perspective shaped by lived experience. Her films examine the impact of redevelopment and social change on urban spaces, foregrounding everyday encounters and individual viewpoints. Formally, her work moves between documentary, fictional narrative, and essayistic approaches, often employing analogue film processes and working with non-professional performers. She privileges mood, rhythm, and observation over linear storytelling. Research plays a central role in Akingbade’s filmmaking process. She has spoken about her interest in combining factual material with fictional elements, often introducing humour as a way of engaging with complex social histories (Aesthetica 2022). In works engaging with archival material, Akingbade has also drawn attention to questions of access and authorship, highlighting how historical narratives are shaped by institutional structures and decisions about visibility (Demetriou 2024). In interviews, she has also identified ‘stance’ as a recurring concern in her work, using the term to describe forms of self-presentation and embodied presence shaped by class, environment, and lived experience (Chisenhale Gallery Interview).

Her first film, In Ur Eye (2015), addressed gentrification in Dalston, East London, and was followed by the trilogy, No News Today, which explored narratives around social housing in London. Dear Babylon (2019, Arts Council Collection), set in London’s East End, centred on a fictional housing bill threatening social housing and followed three art students responding to its impact on estate residents and workers. Films such as Street 66 (2018) and So They Say (2019) engage with histories of Black and Asian community activism in London, incorporating archival images and testimonies. Referencing figures, including housing activist Dora Boatemah and organisations such as the Newham Monitoring Project, these works consider how community histories are preserved, circulated, or overlooked (Demetriou, 2024). Claudette’s Star (2019, Royal Academy Collection) takes its title from artist Claudette Johnson, a prominent figure in the BLK Art Group during the 1980s. The film centres on a conversation between Akingbade and a friend about Johnson’s painting Trilogy (1982–86), one of Akingbade’s longstanding points of reference. Filmed within the Royal Academy Schools and the RA Collection, the work brings together discussions among students about their literary influences and responses to artworks. The film addresses questions of spectatorship, representation, and voice within cultural institutions. Christina Demetriou characterised it as ‘a multifaceted and poetic consideration of the act of looking: away from the white gaze and the white imaginary, and looking forward with an unfazed energy’ (RA Collection).

Akingbade’s 2023 touring exhibition, Show Me The World Mister, premiered at Chisenhale Gallery, London. The exhibition marked the first occasion on which the artist filmed on location in Nigeria and presented two newly commissioned films, The Fist and Faluyi. Shown within a purpose-designed installation, the exhibition made use of controlled lighting and a central structural intervention constructed from aluminium, steel, and polycarbonate, responding to the gallery’s industrial architectural history (Leissle 2022; Blythe 2023). The exhibition subsequently toured to Spike Island, Bristol; The Whitworth, Manchester; BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead; and John Hansard Gallery, Southampton. The Fist (2022) examined labour and industrial legacy through observations of Nigeria’s first Guinness brewery, considering the long-term cultural and economic impact of this colonial-era site. The film was shot on 35mm, marking Akingbade’s first use of the format. Faluyi (2022), filmed on 16mm, followed a young girl travelling through the Idanre Hills in Ondo State, exploring themes of familial legacy, spirituality, and coming of age. Together, the films reflect Akingbade’s engagement with questions of heritage, loss, and identity, as well as her interest in working across differing cinematic registers.

Akingbade has exhibited widely in the UK and internationally, including at the South London Gallery and Institute of Contemporary Arts, London (2019); Towner Eastbourne (2020 and 2022); Whitechapel Gallery, London (2021). In the UK public domain, her work is represented in the Arts Council Collection and the Whitworth, among others.

Irene Iacono

Related books

Piers Inkpen, 'Empowering Art Displayed', Southern Daily Echo, 3 July 2023, p. M17
Laura Cummin, ‘Ayo Akingbade: Show Me the World Mister; Billie Zangewa: A Quiet Fire’, The Observer, 11 June 2023
Finn Blythe, 'Ayo Akingbade Captures Capitalistic and Personal Rituals', Frieze, 9 January 2023
Ben Dalton, ‘Stars of Tomorrow 2022: Ayo Akingbade’, Screen International, 29 June 2022

Public collections

Related organisations

London College of Communication (student)
Royal Academy Schools (student)

Selected exhibitions

Show Me the World Mister, UK touring: Chisenhale Gallery, London; Spike Island, Bristol; The Whitworth, The University of Manchester; BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead; John Hansard Gallery, Southampton (2023-24)
Duette, Towner Gallery, Eastbourne (2022)
A Glittering City: Ayo Akingbade with Duchamp & Sons, Whitechapel Gallery, London (2021)
An Infinity of Traces, Lisson Gallery, London (2021)
Towner International Biennial, Towner Art Gallery, Eastbourne (2020)
Activating Newham: Community & Activism 1980-1991, Create London (2019)
No News Today, Institute of Contemporary Arts, London (2019)

Ben Uri archive

Consult items in the Ben Uri archive related to [Ayo Akingbade ]

Ben Uri Research Unit

for the study and digital recording of the Jewish, Refugee and wide Immigrant contribution to British visual culture since 1900.

Ayo Akingbade artist