Becoming: Art, metamorphosis, identity

This review examines the art practice of Armstrong Oke Agoreyo—a Nigerian artist who specialises in drawing and paper collage, and whose works are situated within the realms of cultural memory, environmental consciousness, and human–animal symbolism.

His drawings, which are surrealistic in form, depict fragmented human faces, while the collages transform discarded paper into sophisticated figurative works that explore African heritage, identity, and resilience—layering history and emotion into compelling visual narratives. This collage method not only reminds us about environmental sustainability, but also offers a fresh reading of the relationship between humanity, materiality, and environment that challenges the rigid boundaries existing amongst them.

Some of Agoreyo’s works include: Echoes of the Wild, Symbiosis, and Silent (drawings), as well as Intrepid, The Gaze, and Misunderstood (paper collages). However, three of his works that illustrate this review are exceptional for me due to their conceptual depth. They are Symbiosis, Interwoven Instincts, and Insecurity. According to the artist, Symbiosis investigates the blurred boundary between the human and nonhuman where instinct, emotion, and survival intersect; Interwoven Instincts examines the psychological and instinctive intersections between humans and animals, emphasising the subtle emotional continuities that transcend species boundaries; while Insecurity portrays the challenges encountered by young girls kidnapped by religious extremists in Northern Nigeria. The interpretation notwithstanding, formalistically, I see these three different works as a single work—three panels of one work that may be read as one unified meditation on transformation. Together, they suggest the notion of metamorphosis—the process of becoming—moving from obscurity to prominence, from chaos to order, from fragmentation to coherence—a process I argue, is the centralising force of Agoreyo’s artistic practice.

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This process of change evokes the idea of the mutational dimensions of identity, which in this context suggests a shift from identity crisis to identity clarity—an evolution from confusion and conflict to balance and self-realisation. Identity crisis refers to an individual’s inability to understand who they are, whereas identity clarity denotes an awareness of who one is and confidence in that knowing. In a figurative sense, Agoreyo’s art visualises these identity dynamics. In this review, therefore, his drawings of disjointed faces suggest the confusion of dislocation, while his figurative collages allude to the confidence in knowing who we are, made possible through art. Hence, his work resonates deeply with postcolonial experiences of fragmentation and reconstruction, where cultural identity is continuously negotiated amid histories of displacement, hybridity, and renewal.

In the lens of postcolonial theory, therefore, identity formation is understood as a concept shaped by historical rupture and constant change. Accordingly, scholars like Homi Bhabha and Frantz Fanon have theorised identity as being in a state of flux—hybrid, fluid, and perpetually “in the making.” For Bhabha, hybridity is a space of negotiation where new identities are constructed from the connections of cultures and histories. Agoreyo’s practice is located within this space of hybridity—a space where discarded materials transform and become carriers of new meaning. Still within this space, waste paper functions both as material and as metaphor, alluding to the postcolonial condition—the act of restoring pieces of a disrupted past to create a renewed sense of self. Viewed through this framework, his collages become acts of resistance and renewal, transforming what was hitherto considered rubbish into artworks rich with reassuring meaning.

In the broader context of African art discourse, Agoreyo’s work falls within the categories of artists like El Anatsui, Nnenna Okore, and Ibrahim Mahama who explore material transformation as a metaphor for cultural resilience. They have, in similar manner deployed discarded objects to address issues of consumption, colonial legacy, and social reconstruction. Like them, Agoreyo’s body of works engage with sociopolitical issues that borders on embodied process of reparation—the mending of brokenness through touch, patience, and vision. Each torn fragment he reassembles is a gesture of healing—a reimagining of what identity might mean in a world that is in a continuous process of fragmentation and reformation.

His fascination with the nexus between humans and animals also takes his postcolonial study further into the field of ontology—the study of being. In this context, the rendering of hybrid forms in his art may be interpreted as an act of resistance against the hierarchical binaries inherited from colonial epistemologies—human versus animal, civilised versus savage, self versus other, and modern versus traditional, and so on. By transcending these limiting binaries, Agoreyo’s work highlights the idea of communal existence, illuminating the philosophy of African interconnectedness. This approach calls to mind Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o’s idea of decolonising the mind, as the artist suggests in his work: a return to relational forms of knowing—ways of being that emphasise the mutual connection between humans and their environment rather than separation. His art thus becomes a form of visual philosophy: a reaffirmation of the bonds and shared existence between humans, animals, and the environment—interconnected humanity beyond colonial logic.

Even though Agoreyo’s practice resonates with global artists whose works speak to the notion of transformation, his work remains distinctly rooted in African sensibility: one that values repair, renewal, and interconnection. His characteristic way of transforming waste to fascinating works of art becomes a critique of conventional ideas about waste and disposability— turning his art into a symbol of restoration that challenges colonial stereotypes of the Black race. Through this metamorphosis, he underscores the idea that identity is organic and perpetually in a state of flux —it is not just inherited, but continually shaped by experience and creation. In a world that is increasingly prone to crisis and fragmentation, Agoreyo’s art is a poignant reminder that to become is to heal, to reconstruct, and to affirm life.

Armstrong Oke Agoreyo is a graduate of Fine Art from the University of Benin, and he also holds an MFA (Master of Fine Arts) from the University of Derby in the United Kingdom in 2024. He has exhibited both nationally and internationally. From showcasing his works at the Cipriarte Venezia Gallery, Venice, Italy, the “Untold stories”, organised by Art Core Gallery in the United Kingdom, the Thought Pyramid Gallery, Abuja-Nigeria, and “Baroqueisation of the Contemporary “, organised by the Pan Africa Circle of Artists (PACA), Port Harcourt Nigeria, Agoreyo’s art has reached diverse audiences, crossing cultural and geographical boundaries. His practice has also gained international critical acclaim, attracting significant interest from both critics and collectors. For instance, the Thought Pyramid has recently shown interest in collecting his works. As a testament to the widespread acceptance of his art, Agoreyo was awarded the ‘Art is Everywhere Prize’ for Best Waste-to-Art in the Visual Art category at LIMCAF (Life in My City Art Festival), a renowned Nigerian annual art festival, in 2014. He is also the 2024 recipient of the Banks Mill Award by the University of Derby, UK.

Kanu, an art historian, critic, and curator, writes from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

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