Long-lost Nigerian ‘Mona Lisa’ goes on show back home

Thursday nights are known as Lagos nights in downtown Johannesburg when Nigerian Afro-beat musician Femi Koya takes to the stage - bringing together sounds from different parts of the continent to create his own style, while still paying homage to the genre's greats.

ART X Lagos is West Africa’s premier international art fair, designed to showcase the best and most innovative contemporary art from the African continent and its Diaspora.

ART X Lagos is West Africa’s premier international art fair, designed to showcase the best and most innovative contemporary art from the African continent and its Diaspora.

Funmi Adubi uses waste paper to make flowers & other decorative items using various techniques of paper craft to promote the importance of recycling.

Experimental artist, Diseye Tantua is creating unconventional furniture using car parts from the '90s. The 44-year-old, Ghanian-Nigerian says he hopes his pieces will help preserve the history and memories he believes are contained in the pre-loved vehicles.

Olarinde Ayanfeoluwa is a 22-year-old self-taught artist who makes unconventional portraits by scribbling on canvases in Nigeria.

Painting by Ben Enwonwu, a Nigerian artist named "African Mona Lisa" originally christened as 'Christine' has been sold at auction in London for £1.1m after the family who owned it googled the signature and realised its importance.

Masked artist Yusuff Abogunde is working on his latest project painting the walls of a studio he shares with other artists in Nigeria's commercial capital, Lagos.

British-born Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare has launched a residency program in the West African country's commercial capital Lagos in the hope that it will help the continent to raise its profile in the global art scene.

John Amanam, a 32-year-old former special effects expert, builds hyper-realistic prosthetics that match Nigerians' skin tones. Most prosthetic body parts available in the country until now have been white, or made from materials such as wood that also look unrealistic.

Nigerian artist Olufela Omomkeko has set up an exhibition in Lagos that he hopes will encourage people to obey safety measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and the need for lockdowns. His pieces are made from fresh peppers that will wither during the exhibition, which Keko says acts as a reminder of what farmers and traders selling perishable goods went through during lockdowns last year.

Music, spoken word and theatre are among the many artistic mediums that allow people from different backgrounds to connect. But spaces centering on the experiences of under-represented minorities can often be hard to come by, inspiring a variety of artists and activists hoping to change that. Among them is Irish-Nigerian artist Osaro Azams. She's the founder of the Fried Plantains Collective, which celebrates the voices of the LGBT and African communities in Dublin in a "cozy" and fun way. She joined us for Perspective.