We Should All Be Black Installation

Suraj Adekola is a Nigerian contemporary artist based in Manchester, UK. His practice explores how value—identity, cultural, economic, and emotional—is constructed, inherited, and negotiated across global contexts. Working primarily with painting and mixed media, Adekola integrates hand-dyed Adire fabric, acrylic, and symbolic language to create layered surfaces that operate as both material and metaphor. Fabric in his work functions as a carrier of memory, labour, and identity, while recurring motifs drawn from systems of trade and exchange reflect the pressures and aspirations embedded within contemporary life. Rather than approaching these materials decoratively, Adekola treats them as active agents, allowing history and gesture to coexist within carefully resolved compositions. His work continues to attract interest from international collectors and curators seeking contemporary art with cultural depth, clarity, and enduring presence.