New York-based Nigerian artist Iké Udé is taking the beauty of Nollywood – Nigeria’s movie industry, the world’s third-largest industry in movie production – to Washington DC in an exhibition tagged ‘Nollywood Portraits’ at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art.

The exhibition which explores African beauty through the portraits of the Nollywood A-listers painted by the artist opened on Saturday, February 5. The display will feature 33 of Udé’s 64 portraits of Nollywood top actors, directors, and producers. As a side attraction, some of the garments styled by the stars and a bespoke set in which visitors can create their own identities with the help of on-site stylists will also be on display.

Known for his performative and iconoclastic style and vibrant sense of composition, Udé’s photographs use color, attire, and other markers to make elegant yet unexpected portraits. His photographs make a bold statement about the power of African identities, despite centuries of attempted erasure by Eurocentric art history and notions of beauty.

After three decades in America, Udé had returned to Lagos, Nigeria, in 2014 to photograph the celebrities in the portraits he is now exhibiting at the Smithsonian’s Museum.

“We are very excited to join the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art in celebrating these Nigerian film industry personalities in the classic, elegant style Iké Udé has perfected,” said Osahon Akpata, Project Director of Nollywood Portraits. “The radical beauty of these portraits is intended to make a bold statement about the portrayal of our people at the highest art and cultural institutions in the world.”

As part of the global launch of this artistic Nigerian-centred assemblage that highlights the country’s $3 billion film industry, on Friday, February 11, at noon, some of the Nollywood artists featured will take part in an exclusive virtual interactive session to kick off Black History Month at the museum for audiences around the world. The event tagged “Africa is Beautiful” stages Nollywood stars talking about art, cinema, and the power of beauty while addressing direct questions from the audience.

“Black History Month is an opportunity to reflect on the contributions of African people across the globe to art, to history, to culture, and to our common humanity,” said Ngaire Blankenberg, director of the National Museum of African Art. “Whether he turns his camera on himself, flowers or the talented stars of Nollywood, Iké Udé presents a world of beauty, and most powerfully, a world that centers on African beauty.”

Some of the film stars scheduled to feature at the “Africa is Beautiful” event alongside Iké Udé are Joke Silva, one of the most successful and influential actresses from Nigeria; Alexx Ekubo, Pulse magazine’s 2014 pick for sexiest man in Nigeria; Eku Edewor, named “Nollywood’s Most Daring Star” by Vogue magazine; and Enyinna Nwigwe, star of Nollywood’s top-grossing hit, The Wedding Party. Veteran actress Taiwo Ajai-Lycett will also feature in the interactive session to discuss film, fashion, and the portrait-making experience.

“Iké Udé is a true visionary who presents himself and the world around him with a combination of extraordinary style, cutting intellectual humor, and exacting detail,” said Milbourne, senior curator for the National Museum of African Art. “He reveals how each of us performs our identity, and in the case of these Nollywood stars, he takes us beyond the façade of celebrity. He invites us to see how they, themselves, want to be seen.”

The program, which will include an exclusive screening of the documentary “Nollywood in Focus” and a sneak peek at the exhibition, will be hosted by Touria El Glaoui, the founding director of the 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair and who was voted one of the 100 most influential women in Africa by Forbes in 2016.

“Africa Is Beautiful” will stream on Zoom and is free to the public. Advanced registration is encouraged online. More information on the program and participants is available on the museum’s website.