Wole Lagunju first trained in graphic design in Nigeria, immediately establishing himself as an artist in his home country, where he enjoyed a successful career before leaving for Germany in the mid 1990s and then arriving in the United States in 2007, where he currently lives and works. His work is associated with Onaism, a contemporary art movement of the Ife School, whose focus is to reimagine the forms and philosophies of traditional Yoruba art and design. In recent years, the focus of his work has been on the forms and traditions of Gelede masks, and the juxtaposition of diverse cultural identities, exploring issues related to post-colonialism. Lagunju reimagines and transforms cultural icons, appropriated from the Dutch Golden age, the Victorian, Elizabethan and Tudorian England eras as well as contemporary fashion. His chosen cultural references critique the racial and social structures of the nineteenth century, while evoking commentaries on power, femininity and womanhood.

Flower Power Mask III is an exceptional example of this artistic vocabulary. In the artist’s own words, the work brings “fresh insights into mask making traditions in Yoruba culture by transposing Gelede masks from the Yoruba people of West Africa onto contemporary images that document bygone and present social hierarchies in the Western world” (Wole Lagunju).

Gelede is a male oriented dance for women in Yoruba culture, and celebrates their sacred powers, motherhood and sexuality. In juxtaposing images of gender and Gelede masks from the pre and post-colonial Africa, Lagunju aims to challenge and critique notions of imperialistic cultural idioms. The artist explores the connection between cultural values and stereotypes and issues of power, gender and identity. Within this discourse, he believes Yoruba culture to “affirm itself as being the origin of all the other cultures of the world”. In addition, it is essential, according to him, to enquire into how the social structures of traditional societies are impacted, both positively and negatively, by globalization, and the blurring distinction between sexes.

Lagunju’s works have appeared in several exhibitions in Nigeria, United States, Trinidad and Germany. Recent ones include: Yoruba Remixed, Ebonycurated Gallery, Capetown in 2018; Wole Lagunju: African Diaspora and Transnational Visuality, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, Virginia in 2014; Womanscape: Race, Gender and Sexuality in African Art, University of Texas, Austin Texas in 2011. He was awarded a Phillip Ravenhill Fellowship by the UCLA in 2006, and a Pollock Krasner award in 2009.