Sabo Kpade

Biography

I am a writer, critic, and curator specializing in the modern and contemporary art of Africa and the Black Atlantic. My work examines how images and objects register systems of circulation, extraction, and historical memory across transnational contexts. Trained at the Rhode Island School of Design and the University of East Anglia, I combine curatorial practice with research-driven writing and object-based inquiry.

I have published widely in international publications, including Artforum, ArtReview, The Brooklyn Rail, Canvas, and Contemporary &, contributing critical essays and exhibition reviews that situate contemporary artistic practices within broader historical and theoretical frameworks. My writing focuses on photography, moving image, and diasporic visual culture, with particular attention to the ways cultural production mediates questions of labour, migration, and representation.

Alongside my writing, I develop curatorial projects as platforms for research. My current project, Palimpsest: 100 Constellations of Studio Memory, commissioned for the Lagos Biennial 2026, investigates artists' studios as sites of material knowledge, exploring how artistic production is shaped by infrastructural, social, and economic conditions. Across my practice, I approach writing and curating as interconnected forms of inquiry that contribute to critical conversations on contemporary art, museums, and the global cultural landscape.

Sabo Kpade, Writer & Curator at The Lagos Biennale, Lagos, Nigeria, has been awarded by the Getty Foundation (Los Angeles, USA).