Meet the 6 Young Scholars Museum Fellowship Awardees for the Connecting The Dots Program
Goethe-Institut Nigeria is delighted to introduce the six fellows selected for the Connecting The Dots program, in partnership with the Ford Foundation and six museums across Nigeria. The fellows will embark on individual research projects within six Nigerian museums over a span of six months, aiming to generate fresh insights to enrich the content of these museums and foster engagement with their respective communities.
These accomplished fellows represent diverse academic and creative disciplines. Their projects will explore and engage with Nigeria's ethnographic histories, as well as contemporary issues and their intricate relationships. They will leverage the collections of their host museums, delve into the histories of the cities, and collaborate closely with local communities to generate new insights, interpretations, understandings and engagement.
Meet the fellows
1. Daduut Judith Dyeme is a Sculptor, Installation Artist, Photographer, and Lecturer at the Fine and Applied Arts Department, University of Jos. Her project, titled "Resilience" focuses on art as therapy. She aims to draw inspiration from the lives of historical figures, using their stories of resilience to explore mental health and promote well-being through sculpture.
Host Museum: Slave History Museum, Calabar
2. Bayo Omoboriowo is a Guinness World Record holder and multi-award-winning Visual Storyteller and Documentary Photographer. His project, "Democracy Bus: Tracing Nigeria’s Journey to Democratic Governance" aims to shed light on the lesser-explored narrative of Nigeria's transition from military rule to democratic governance
Host Museum: CRIMMD Museum, Lagos
3. Orinayomi Odubawo is an Experience Designer, Researcher, and a graduate architect from the University of Lagos. Her project, "Urban Roots: Tracing Cultural Threads" aims to explore the interplay between urban morphology, cultural heritage, and community engagement in the context of her host city and museum.
Host Museum: Colonial History Museum, Aba
4. Yahuza Rabiu Garba is an early-career historian and social researcher based in Potiskum, Yobe State, where he presently chairs the Yobe Literary Society. Yahuza’s project, "Exploring Migration Narratives in Nigerian Museums" delves into the migration histories of Nigeria through a comprehensive study of the collections of his host museum.
Host Museum: Natural History Museum, OAU, Ile-Ife
5. Ifunanya Madufor is a writer and cultural researcher with interests in African indigenous knowledge systems and spirituality. She is currently a 2023 DAAD MuseumsLab fellow. Her project, “Entangled Expressions” explores how Ethnographic Museums in Nigeria can integrate Indigenous African Knowledge systems into Contemporary Nigerian cultural expressions.
Host Museum: National Museum, Kaduna
6. Toluwanimi Owolana is a thespian and passionate cultural producer, who worked with the Lagos State Government for five years, in designing and coordinating cultural heritage programs in local communities. Her project, "Museum as a Mirror of Society: A Case Study of a Nigerian Museum" aims to examine exhibits and displays within her host museum and how they reflect values, beliefs, and ideologies of the era they are from. Exploring how museums today can shape and influence public perceptions, understanding history, identity, and socio-political issues.
Host Museum: National Museum, Benin
Connecting The Dots is designed to facilitate engagement, education, and enjoyment of historical and contemporary art within six museum spaces across Nigeria. The program places a strong emphasis on critically engaging with Nigerian museum content, conducting research that addresses relevant topics, and critically reviewing current collections, curation, language, and their connections to contemporary issues.
