Babban Riga
Wood Assembly Relief
80 x 70 x 7 cm
2026
Babban Riga (a robe of honour) is a wood assembly Relief that interrogates the history and contemporary condition of Arewa, employing the garment as a signifier of presence, status, and inherited authority. Traditionally rendered in richly embroidered textiles, it is here reconstituted through (katako) discarded wood where rupture and fragmentation replace continuity and refinement. In doing so, the work destabilises conventional associations of prestige, prompting critical reflection on the relationship between material, dignity, and cultural identity within contexts of historical and socio-political struggle.
The work operates within a dialectic of shame and pride, reflecting an estranged yet enduring relationship with systems of power
