Cultural identity and studio practice in Nigerian art: Expressions, negotiations, and contemporary implications

The paper investigates the complex interaction between studio practice and cultural identity in modern Nigerian art, examined through the ways artists negotiate indigenous philosophies, traditional aesthetics, and postcolonial discourses in their creative processes. Based on qualitative analysis and case studies, the research focuses on selected artists from the southern region of Nigeria, chosen for their sustained engagement with cultural motifs, local materials, and critical reflections on identity. Semi-structured interviews with these artists serve as a primary method of data collection, providing insights into their motivations, techniques, and ideological positions. The study also draws from decolonial theory, African aesthetics, and visual semiotics to interpret how sociocultural heritage is reflected, contested, or reimagined in studio practice. Additionally, the paper explores how global art market pressures, formal art education, and institutional contexts shape the artists’ self-representation and aesthetic choices. In charting these dynamics, the paper reveals how Nigerian artists navigate the simultaneous demands of preservation, innovation, and critique within their practice. It argues that the studio is not merely a space of production but a critical site for negotiating complex identities where artists contend with the tensions between the local and the global, tradition and modernity, and self and society.