Dr. Abiodun Olasupo Akande

Abiodun Olasupo Akande is an Associate Professor of African Art and Visual Epistemologies at the University of Lagos, Nigeria. He holds a PhD in African Studies from the Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan. His work explores how visual and verbal cultures function as systems of knowledge through which history, identity, and meaning are interpreted within African contexts.

Akande’s research focuses on indigenous artistic systems and the evolving transformations shaping contemporary African cultural practices. A central aspect of his scholarship examines cosmology as an intellectual framework for the interpretation of the arts, moving beyond its treatment as mere ethnological material to understand how cosmological thought structures artistic philosophy, perception, and knowledge production.

He concretizes these research interests through his painting practice, producing works that engage Yoruba cosmological themes, where artistic creation becomes a site for exploring metaphysical ideas, liminality, duality, and relationships between visible and invisible worlds.

He has received international invitations and research residencies across Africa, Europe, and the United States. Akande serves as Editor of the Eyo Journal of the Arts and Humanities, the official journal of the Faculty of Creative Arts, University of Lagos, and as Editor-in-Chief of the Nigerian Arts Reflection Journal, the official journal of the Society of Nigerian Artists, Oyo State Chapter.