I am honored to support MOWAA through the donation of my work. While it is my hope that the donation will assist the Museum in its mission to preserve, promote and celebrate the artistic heritage of West Africa, I also hope that it will further foster an interest in the works of other African artists who are using the digital as a medium to create innovative and inspiring art that reflects their vision and voice.’

– OSINACHI

Christie’s and the Museum of West African Art (MOWAA) in Nigeria are collaborating to raise funds for MOWAA and its initiatives to create a cultural ecosystem in Benin City, based on the art of the past, present and future. A number of artists have generously agreed to donate original works of art to the auction, including Yinka Shonibare, Tunji Adeniyi-Jones, Lakwena Maciver and Victor Ehikhamenor. Proceeds from the sale of the works will go towards MOWAA initiatives including the presentation of the Nigeria Pavilion at La Biennale di Venezia, 2024—commissioned by the Governor of Edo State and also curated by Aindrea Emelife—and the 20-acre Creative Campus, including the Rainforest Gallery. Designed by the Dakar-based architecture firm Worofila, the Rainforest Gallery will be dedicated to showcasing Modern and Contemporary art, as well as historic exhibitions.

Osinachi (Prince Jacon Osinachi Igwe) was born in Aba, Nigeria. He is a self-taught crypto artist, renowned for his use of Microsoft Word. Despite the software’s limited design palette and tools, his subjects are rendered in extraordinary textural detail: his landscapes are intricately attuned to light and perspective, and his portrayals of skin, water, and fabric are elaborate and voluminous. Osinachi draws upon personal experiences, addressing themes of inequality and injustice as well as celebrating queer identity. From his flickers of light across rippling water, to his depictions of male friends embracing and dancing, his work captures snapshots of everyday life with unparalleled empathy and digital dexterity. He counts Njideka Akunyili-Crosby, Kehinde Wiley and Tschabalala Self among his influences.

Osinachi’s work is internationally celebrated. In 2021, 1-54 and Christie’s collaborated in an online auction of his series Different Shades of Water, a project which responded to Hockney’s double portrait Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures) in digital form. Displayed at Somerset House, these works became the first NFTs by a contemporary African artist to be auctioned in Europe. That year Osinachi partnered with the Mohamed Amin Foundation on the launch ofAfrofutureDAO, a Web3 platform conceived as an archive of assets relating to African history. He also took part in the exhibition Peer to Peer at the Buffalo AKG Art Museum in 2022: the first survey of leading artists engaged with blockchains presented by an American museum. His work is now held in the museum’s collection.