Distinguished Relation at Ejogu Gardens (Amara Palace)

TOYIN OJIH ODUTOLA (B. 1985)

Distinguished Relation at Ejogu Gardens (Amara Palace)

pastel, charcoal and pencil on paper

76 1/2 x 42 inches (194.3 x 106.7 cm)

framed: 82 1/2 x 48 inches (209.6 x 121.9 cm)

Executed in 2018.

PROVENANCE:

Jack Shainman Gallery, New York

Private collection

Private collection

Sotheby's, Hong Kong, 7 October 2022, lot 1206

Acquired from the above sale by the present owner

EXHIBITED:

New York, Jack Shainman Gallery, When Legends Die, September-October 2018

NOTES:

Born in 1985 in Ile-Ife, Nigeria, Toyin Ojih Odutola is celebrated for her meticulous and emotionally resonant works on paper that combine drawing with narrative invention. After immigrating to the United States as a child, she grew up in conservative Alabama. Her experience there deeply influenced her artistic exploration of identity, displacement, and the construction of self. Working primarily with classic drawing tools like ballpoint pens, graphite, charcoal, and pastel, Ojih Odutola builds richly textured imagery on paper that challenges the limitation of drawing. Her practice focuses deeply on identity that is not fixed, but instead can be shaped, shaded and rewritten, just like drawing. Her compositions unfold slowly, each layer of pen, pencil or pastel revealing a new facet of character, place or fictional history.

Ojih Odutola’s oeuvre is marked by a deep commitment to storytelling. Rather than isolated portraits, her figures are often part of expansive, speculative narratives that span multiple works and are developed over months. In these serial projects, she reimagines histories and hierarchies, creating alternative realities that blur the boundaries between fiction and truth. Through her textured surfaces, Ojih Odutola attempts to tell stories with visual cues that cannot be encapsulated in simple words. In this way, she invites viewers to read her work, becoming active participants in the layered stories she constructs.

Distinguished Relation at Ejogu Gardens (Amara Palace), originally presented in her ambitious series the culminated withWhen Legends Die at Jack Shainman gallery, exemplifies this narrative depth. Set within an imagined aristocratic Nigerian family home, this piece belongs to a larger body of work where Ojih Odutola constructs a fictional dynasty with its own geography, customs and visual language. The works from the series were presented as part of the private art collection of fictional patrons Temitope Omodele and his husband, TMH Lord Jideofor Emeka. The couple came from an imagined Nigeria, which had been allowed to evolve untouched by the legacies of colonialism or slavery. Here, Ojih Odutola reimagines what aristocracy, lineage, and queer identity might look like in such an alternative reality.

The central figure in this work is not a person, but a statue that is presented as an artistic heirloom from this parallel history. The prominent and confident figure is rendered with intricate drapery and a black and jewel-tone mark-making that reflects Ojih Odutola’s celebrated approach to skin and texture. With precision and delicacy, the artist transforms the rigidity of stone into something intimate and expressive, elevating the imagined object into a symbol of cultural pride and personal legacy. 

As part of a fictional private collection, the work itself is a fictional artifact featuring yet another fictional artifact and invites viewers to step into the layered fiction laid out by Ojih Odutola. The lush garden setting and regal architectural flourishes surrounding the statue evoke a world built on legacy, wealth, and strong sociopolitical identity. Within this speculative history, Ojih Odutola weaves themes of identity, queerness and Black agency into a deeply textured visual language that imagines new possibilities for representation and power. In this way, Distinguished Relation becomes more than a drawing, but also a relic from a world that both reflects and challenges our own.

The artist’s work has been exhibited in museums internationally, including the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Barbican Centre, London;  Kunsthalle Basel; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington D.C.