Olufemi Olaiya

During his residency at Aspex, Olufemi Olaiya will develop An Odyssey of Memory: Brick, Brass, Belonging, the starting point for a larger body of work exploring My Family House, formerly Casa do Fernandez and later Ilojo Bar, a historic building that once stood on Tinubu Square in Lagos. Once a significant landmark within one of the city’s oldest districts, the building becomes a lens through which the artist explores memory, heritage and belonging.

Working through portrait photography, architectural model-making, archival research, and experiments with sound and mixed media, the residency will take the form of an evolving open studio. Visitors will encounter research materials, maps, family histories, architectural references, early portrait studies and model-making experiments as the project develops in real time.

Rather than presenting a finished work, the residency offers a space for testing ideas and making connections between Lagos and Portsmouth. Through this process, Olufemi explores how buildings hold memory, how families create a sense of belonging, and how personal histories continue across generations and places.

Artist Biography

Olufemi Olaiya is a self-taught visual artist specialising in portrait, fashion and architectural photography. His multidisciplinary practice explores the relationship between identity, history and place, drawing on photography to tell stories that connect people across generations.

Influenced by historical research and personal narratives, his work examines themes of memory, belonging and human connection. Through portraiture and visual storytelling, Olufemi seeks to capture the unique qualities of his subjects while creating opportunities for reflection and dialogue.

You can follow Olufemi’s work on Instagram @olufemicreates