I am constantly holding on to mementoes as I reflect through painting the transitory collapse of time and space that my practice imbues. The disembodied figures and dream-like grounds references the present moment of transit formed where time and space in a postmodern world intersect to produce complex bodies of difference and identity, the Self and the Other, past and presence, the inside and outside, center and periphery reflecting the ambiguity of identity formation within the postcolonial framework. It covertly embodies my experience of being alive in a perennial space and time when the politics of representation is of growing importance and a subtle attempt in the avoidance of being posited as the “Self” or the “Other”. The scholarly texts on critical theories by notable writers such as Homi Bhabha, Edward Said and literary works of writers like Chinua Achebe and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie continue to inspire my investigative approach as a consummate student of history and critical theory in examining the culture of subtle dominance through globalization

Luke Agada, (b. 1992, Lagos) is a Nigerian artist living and working in Chicago. His practice examines themes of globalization, migration and cultural dislocation within the framework of a postcolonial world, as he reflects on the African diaspora and its impact on neo-cultural evolution. He obtained an MFA in Painting and drawing at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2023. In recent years, Agada has participated in shows in Lagos, New York, Chicago, Beijing, Accra, Berlin, Casablanca. His work has been featured in several publications including The Pinch Journal publication at the University of Memphis, Tennessee, Nigeria Art archives, Juxtapoz, Newcity, Whitewall. He has also been a recipient of various awards and fellowship including the Global warming international art prize, AII, New York in 2020, Janet and Russell Doubleday Award at The Art Students league of New York in 2022, The Helen Frankenthaler Award at SAIC in 2022 and The James Nelson Raymond Fellowship Award in 2023. Agada was recently a Fall Residency Fellow at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art and is currently a Teaching Fellow at the Painting and Drawing Department at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, IL.