A walk through Alexis Galleries in Victoria Island, Lagos, where the Recycling Matters II exhibition is being showcased this February, is to witness a quiet, shimmering revolution.
Here, the detritus of Lagos, from rags to scrap metal, and the mountains of non-biodegradable flip-flops that clog the city’s arteries have been stripped of their “waste” labels and elevated to the status of sublime art.
In the second iteration of the Recycling Matters exhibition, which opened with a private viewing on February 7, 2026, the gallery has once again partnered with The Macallan to present a social intervention disguised as an aesthetic triumph. Curated by Uche Obasi, the show features new works from four residency participants: Konboye Ebipade Eugene, Seye Morakinyo, Aliya Diseotu Victor, and Ibrahim Afegbua.
The exhibition is less a display of “recycled art” and more an exercise in alchemy. because these mixed-media artists are not merely reusing materials; they are recontextualising the very soul of Nigerian consumption.
Perhaps the most arresting works in the collection are two portraits by Konboye Ebipade Eugene. At first glance, they appear to be vibrant, textured mosaics of discarded footware. It is only upon closer inspection—or, as Eugene suggests, a deliberate squint—that the medium reveals itself as human portraits
“You may need to squint to get the full picture,” Eugene explains, his voice carrying the enthusiasm of a man who has found treasure in a landfill. “The footwear can be a distracting factor. But when your attention is drawn to the form, the science of the color takes over.”
Every hue, from the deep ochres to the electric blues, is the original pigmentation of the footwears. It is a staggering commentary on the sheer volume of non-biodegradable waste in Lagos. “In Lagos, every single person must have thrown away five pairs of footwear within five years,” Eugene notes. “They are not going anywhere. They are just sitting in the landfills.”
For Eugene, the work is also deeply personal, rooted in childhood memories of creating makeshift toys from discarded soles. In this residency program, he has moved from the literal portraits of the first edition into more conceptual, abstract installations, pushing the boundaries of what rubber can communicate about labour and survival.
While Eugene works in the soft, resilient medium of rubber, Aliya Diseotu Victor finds his voice in the rigid, unforgiving world of metal. His dominant material is not just “scrap” but meticulously selected metal strips—both ferrous and non-ferrous—that allow him a specific “freedom to flow into shapes.”
His piece, Olotu, stands as a powerful homage to his Ijaw heritage. “In the Ijaw dialect, Olotu means “champion,” specifically a traditional wrestler who has emerged victorious from a gruelling tournament,” he explained. The sculpture, with its intricate manipulation of metal sheets, captures the strength and the celebratory grace of a champion being paraded through the village streets.
“The material gives me the freedom to flow into various parts of the body,” Aliya Diseotu Victor says. “Scrap alone wouldn’t give me what I wanted. I needed the strips to achieve the anatomy of the fighter.”
Read also: 3 of our favourite artworks on display at the “Mirrors of our time” exhibition
The exhibition’s success is bolstered by the continued support of The Macallan, a brand that has increasingly positioned itself as a patron of creative excellence in West Africa. The partnership with Alexis Galleries is, as Hammed Adebiyi, Senior Brand Manager for West and Central Africa (WACA) at Edrington, puts it, a “synergistic alignment.”
“Recycling Matters II embodies innovation, sustainability, and cultural pride. These are values integral to our brand,” he said.
Indeed, the meticulous process of selecting and refining a single-malt Scotch whisky finds a parallel in the artists’ process of reclaiming and reassembling discarded materials. Both require a keen eye for potential where others see only the mundane.
Patty Chidiac-Mastrogiannis, CEO of Alexis Galleries, views the exhibition as a necessary dialogue for a country characterised by rapid consumption and disposal. “Recycling Matters II invites viewers to reconsider waste as a resource for creative renewal,” she says.
The exhibition, which runs until February 21, 2026, does more than just showcase beautiful objects. It challenges the viewer to look at the “dumps” of Lagos not as eyesores, but as repositories of memory and resilience.
As the curator Uche Obasi notes, the artists have taken objects that are “very common to domestic uses but are dumped” and renewed them into “artistic, creative treasure.” In doing so, they have offered a critical commentary on environmental management while nurturing a culture of sustainability that Nigeria desperately needs.
In the hands of Eugene, Morakinyo, Victor, and Afegbua, the discarded has become the divine.
Recycling Matters II exhibition continues until Feb. 21 at Alexis Galleries, Victoria Island, Lagos; 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily.
The post Alchemy of Waste: Four Nigerian artists show how they are turning Lagos’s discarded materials into high art appeared first on Nigerian Entertainment Today.
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