Iké Udé: Nollywood Portraits
October 2021 – May 2022
About Iké Udé: Nollywood Portraits
Iké Udé: Nollywood Portraits will be the first exhibition at the Smithsonian dedicated to Nollywood, Nigeria’s $3 billion film industry.
Artist Iké Udé has turned his camera lens to this glamorous world, portraying its actors, directors, producers and allies with his characteristic elegant approach. In each of Iké Udé’s portraits, beauty unfolds in sumptuous details that are reminiscent of both classical portraiture and high fashion photography. With this project, the artist conveys a radical beauty by offering a narrative that is as much about empowerment as it is about style, making the Nollywood Portraits series the artist’s most ambitious, culturally significant body of work to date.
Thirty-three color saturated portraits will be featured alongside a groundbreaking photomural and a documentary film by the artist.
Nollywood Programming
The exhibition will be available online globally and onsite in Washington, DC for one year enabling the museum to plan a robust schedule of programs celebrating the influence of Nollywood on global culture and the artistic vision of Iké Udé.
With a strategic launch in May, when Netflix celebrates Africa month via its Made in Africa Collection available worldwide, the museum will plan online and onsite programs that share with diverse audiences the many facets of filmmaking, photography, and Nollywood personalities. The year-long programming will conclude with an exclusive red-carpet closing event in May 2022.
Topics of programs include a virtual Film Festival, Artist talks, Women in Nollywood, Fashion, Matters of Representation, Sounds of Nollywood, and the Nollywood film industry.
Join the Nollywood Patrons Circle to receive these selected benefits
- Name/logo placement on official project credit line
- + Invitations to exclusive closing red-carpet event
- + Private tours of the exhibition at the Smithsonian
- + Complimentary copies of exhibition catalogue
- + Preferred access to related programs
- + Select opportunities to speak at programs/events
Patrons Circle Levels of Support
Join esteemed members of the philanthropic community who support African art, cinema, and photography.
Name included on official project credit line
+ Invitations to related programs and events
+ Complimentary copy of exhibition catalogue
+ Private tours of the exhibition at the Smithsonian
+ Select opportunities to speak at programs/events
+ VIP access to related programs
+ VIP access at exclusive red-carpet event (May 2022)
