With a plethora of awards and a long list of international exhibitions to his credit, the Nigerian-American artist Victor Ekpuk epitomises what it is to be a global artist. Throughout his three-decade-long career, Ekpuk’s artworks have enjoyed placements in several prominent public and private collections around the world.
However, despite his global acclaim, the Uyo-born artist who holds a Bachelor of Fine & Applied Art degree from the Obafemi Awolowo University has never forgotten his roots. His work draws heavily from Nsibidi, an ideographic script indigenous to southeastern Nigeria whose symbols are at once both well-preserved and rendered anew across Ekpuk’s iconic drawings, paintings, murals, and sculptures. Another cultural touchstone for Ekpuk is the concept of ‘mbre’, an Ibibio word for theatrical storytelling and vibrant cultural expression.
One outstanding example of how Ekpuk refashions intangible cultural heritage for the modern world is Dancer (2025), a bright red, 10-feet tall symbolic abstract sculpture of a dancer captured mid-movement, that was commissioned by the Logan Circle Community Association in Washington DC, and has now made the intersection of the city’s 14th and R Street its permanent home. Typically, red is a colour that signals caution, pause or alarm but its use in Dancer comes across as an invitation to dance, move, and play alongside the aluminium sculpture.
Ekpuk’s latest solo exhibition Dancer, Still Dancing is an extension of that work. On display at the Goethe-Institut Washington, it features a reproduction of Dancer in seriegraph format and the artist’s “idea board” showcasing a series of preliminary studies and sketches that informed the sculpture, in addition to similar but smaller-scale sculptures and several other paintings. Walking visitors through the exhibition on opening night, Ekpuk remarked on how dance and diverse historical narratives informed the exhibition, and that role of interlocutor is one he will reprise during his scheduled Artist Talk.
Joy is an emotion Ekpuk repeatedly visits in his work — his 2014 site-specific drawing for the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts was even titled Ode to Joy — and this exhibition is no different. Praise Be (2026) a digital painting featuring two dancers outfitted in ukara cloth captures this so well to the extent that the viewer can see the dynamism in the figures’ static pose. Some might see a clash between the church depicted in the painting’s background and the dancers’ cultural clothing, an indigo-dyed cotton wrapper originally worn exclusively by members of the Ekpe secret society, but I see an argument for how adherence to Christianity need not negate one’s traditional anchors, and a reminder that joy is a universally shared value that transcends creeds and cultures.
Where there is dancing, there is usually music and this provides the perfect opportunity for the first outing of Ekpuk’s jazz series, a recently completed collection of digitally rendered paintings of musicians playing the saxophone, the trumpet, and the double bass. According to Ekpuk, they have been in storage, “sitting on DVD since 2003,” however there is nothing dated about them, and they complement the other artworks on display.
Taken all together, the exhibition is a blend of old and new rhythms; a harmonious mix of music and movement. Dancer, Still Moving is also a metaphor for the artist himself, who after three decades of exploring and creating, remains in motion, showing no signs of ceasing or slowing down his art practice.
Dancer, Still Moving is open to the public until October 1, 2026 at the Goethe-Institut Washington, 1377 R St. NW, 3rd Floor, Washington, DC 20009, USA. Tickets for the Artist Talk can be reserved here.
**Photos courtesy of the artist.
*** Akumbu Uche is a writer and storyteller from Nigeria. A regular contributor to thelagosreview.ng, her work in arts journalism and cultural criticism has also been published by Cultbytes, IMPULSE Magazine, The Nation, New African Magazine, Service95 and Strange Horizons. Follow her on X.