Adejoke Tugbiyele (Nigeria/USA) is a sculptor. Sourcing most of her materials from Africa, Tugbiyele creates her works from palm stems, traditional broomsticks, natural fibres, wood and fabric. Spiritual aspects of Yoruba culture inspire and inform her sculpture. She also deals with political subjects related to sexual identity, women’s rights and human rights. Tugbiyele’s work has been exhibited at institutions internationally.

Adejoke Tugbiyele’s practice is inspired by Yoruba spirituality/cosmology, as well as universal ideas around transformation, flight, and transcendence, but also ‘duality.’ Through the concept of ‘Visible/Invisible’ she explores multiple-dualities including transparent/opaque, industrial/ natural, masculinity/femininity and spirituality/sexuality, all of which one might similarly find within Eastern philosophy and other indigenous cultures around the world. The ‘double-helix’ is a reoccurring presence in her body of work.
With recent works in lost-wax bronze, majority of Tugbiyele’s sculptures over the years employ metal/wire and palm stems repurposed from traditional African brooms. Her multidisciplinary practice is highly inventive, innovative and monumental in detail and scale. Tugbiyele is a multi award-winning, queer, Nigerian-American artist and architectural designer. Her work has been reviewed and mentioned in numerous distinguished publications and, can be found in important public and private collections around the world.