Victor Nwankwo: eⁱKENGA recasts the Igbo sculptural tradition of Ikenga — consecrated shrine figures embodying personal ambition and self-determination — into bronze, concrete, and ceramic works that speak to contemporary conditions. Noting the absence of African or diasporic figures in the global collectibles market, Nwankwo proposes Ikenga as its most natural occupant. Each figure embodies a guiding attribute — Strength, Wisdom, Joy, Grace — recuperating sculpture's talismanic function in an era when human attention has become the most extracted resource on earth.
