Across drawing, painting, sculpture and installation, Temitayo Ogunbiyi brings together botanical forms, the techniques and geometries of hairstyles, play structures, and the diagrammatic logic of navigational charts, among other references, resulting in forms that are at once playful, materially grounded and conceptually rich. By interweaving these sources, Ogunbiyi highlights how everyday gestures and cultural practices can carry deep histories of communication and creativity.
Hair is a significant point of departure, and Ogunbiyi is particularly drawn to hair-threading techniques – a practice that appears in Victorian hairwork, wigs from Coastal Wari (modern-day Peru), Yoruba Ogun Pari braiding, and the Maasai Oldeka warrior style – interpreting them as gestures of protection and strength that operate as intimate, embodied archives, and as sites where knowledge, identity and memory are held and continue to be transmitted. Play is another recurring theme. Ogunbiyi’s research into accessible play structures, particularly those built from everyday household or construction materials, led her to engage with artists who have also considered the social and pedagogical potential of play – among them Martin Puryear and Isamu Noguchi. For Ogunbiyi, this resonance underscores a broader, transcultural, intergenerational conversation about curiosity, interaction and care. Her sculptures are rhythmic and tactile; they draw connections between disparate geographies, materials and histories; and they are socially engaged, creating environments that welcome participation.
—Jareh Das
