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Sandra Mbanefo Obiago

@mbanefoobiago

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We are honoured to welcome Sandra Mbanefo Obiago, award-winning filmmaker, writer, photographer, poet, art curator, and Founder and Artistic Director of SMO Contemporary Art, as our keynote speaker at the FWIFT Convention 2026.

With a career spanning film, media, communications, and the arts, Sandra has dedicated her work to telling powerful African stories and using creativity to inspire social change. She founded Communicating for Change, a media-for-development organisation whose award-winning films and radio programmes have explored human rights, women's empowerment, health, environmental issues, democracy, and good governance. She also served as Associate Producer on Half of a Yellow Sun.

Her remarkable contributions to African storytelling and the creative industry reflect the power of authentic representation, purposeful storytelling, and creative leadership.

We look forward to the insights and inspiration she will bring to this gathering of women shaping the future of our industry.

Under the theme ONE INDUSTRY. MANY VOICES., the FWIFT Convention 2026 brings women together across film, television, radio, advertising, and digital media to build meaningful connections and create new possibilities for collaboration.

📅 Thursday, 29 October 2026
📍 Glover Memorial Hall, Lagos

Registration is compulsory. Register now and be part of the conversation!

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If I don't reintroduce myself as an MC and Host, events curator, program facilitator, panel moderator and motivational speaker...how will y'all know?!

Special hello to everyone new here🤗 oooh let me put this multiple caption Thang to good use...slide with me 🖐🏽🥰

Hi I'm Bella Obiago. One half of a recording and performing music duo @taraxbellamusic (we've put out two songs and visualizers for them this year) please go listen if you haven't.

I'm back outside and that's on a city that cannot be hidden. If you've been in an era of hiding, come outside with me friend! It's our time to shine. It's a new season.

Yup. We can do and be different things. Well too. I'm learning that as long as something is your calling, it will keep calling, and it can and will look different per season.

The people have spoken. Woman of many talents. I didn't say it. 😂 Energy doesn't lie.

I had so much fun hosting the red carpet and the event. This season is teaching me that sometimes the dream doesn't die, it is reinvented and takes even more glorious form. Word to Mr. @doyinadewola

Morals of story: come outside again and shine. Book me to host your events, red carpets, moderate panels, facilitate programs and all that good stuff.

I was born to do this. To hold this microphone thing whether I'm speaking or singing.

Also, post more on the feed so people can see you and know what you do and stop only being a serial story poster. (I'm really talking to myself here😩 but hey wear it if the shoe fits.)

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*MEET THE JURY | YORUBUDDY ART COMPETITION 2026*

Great art deserves thoughtful eyes and diverse perspectives.

We are pleased to introduce the distinguished jury panel for the YoruBuddy Art Competition 2026, bringing together voices from art, culture, curation, and creative exchange.
Our jury members are:
▪️ Nike Davies-Okundaye
▪️ Sandra Mbanefo-Obiago
▪️ Nadine Siegert
▪️ Dotun Popoola
▪️ Femi Akinsanya
▪️ Ugoma Ebilah
Together, they will contribute their expertise to the judging process as we celebrate creativity and strengthen the cultural connection between Nigeria and Germany.
Join us on this exciting journey, and stay tuned for more updates.
#YoruBuddy #YoruBuddyArtCompetition #MeetTheJury #ArtAndCulture #NigeriaGermany

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A hundred people. Six months. One afternoon. Then it is taken apart.
That is what it takes to build Ijele, the King of Masquerades.

On Friday 11 September, Ijele travelled over 500km from Onitsha to Lagos for the opening of Embodied Spirits: Masquerades of Igboland. Standing more than 14 feet tall, it could not fit through the door so it presided over the entrance, and we all came out to it.

The night closed the 2nd day of Aliko Dangote Foundation’s convening with the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders, From Promise to Powerhouse: Building Africa’s Next Era. Two days on finance, technology and industry. Then this.

Inside, five paintings. Three Agbogho Mmuo, the maiden spirits, danced. The drummers played live, as they always do, because the dance answers the drum and no two performances are the same.

I paint masquerades as presences, not costumes. A masquerade is not an object. It is a body a spirit can wear, and dance. It still walks the streets of Onitsha, where I am from.

Too often we meet African culture behind glass. A mask in a museum case, labelled, still, far from home. This was the opposite of that.

Behind every masquerade is an economy. Carvers, weavers, textile artists, and the apprenticeships that pass the knowledge on. The question I keep asking is who funds them.

Swipe for the night. Full gallery and catalogue at artbyrewa.com, link in bio.

#WEF #YGL #AlikoDangoteFoundation #REWA #Ijele

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Title: “Iwalẹwa” (The Beauty of Being) -Iwa series.
Medium: Acrylic on canvas
Size: 40’ X 42’ inches

There is a beauty that does not ask to be seen.
It lives quietly in the way we carry ourselves,
in the things we nurture,
in the responsibilities we hold close,
and in the character we reveal when no one is watching.

She turns, not to be admired,
but to remind us that beauty is more than the face.

The hen rests in her hands —
a symbol of care, provision, patience and home.
And behind her, colours unfold like fragments of a life:
joy, struggle, memory, hope.

Her blue is not sadness.
It is depth.
A quiet ocean of stories beneath the surface.

She wears her headscarf like a crown,
not because she seeks a throne,
but because there is dignity in knowing who you are.

Ìwà ni ẹwa
Indeed…A good character is beautiful!

For when everything else fades —
the clothes, the colours, the applause,
even the image we leave behind —
what remains is the person we chose to become.

#art #poetic #africanart #artcollector #gallery

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A perspective from Sandra Mbanefo Obiago.

As founder of SMO Contemporary Art and a member of the Africa Basel Advisory Board, Sandra brings a vital perspective to the evolving landscape of contemporary African art.

In this Reel, she reflects on what drives her work in the arts, the importance of building meaningful connections, and why creating space for African artists and ideas matters.

Thank you, Sandra, for being part of the Africa Basel journey. 🖤

#AfricaBasel #SandraMbanefoObaiga #SMOContemporary #ContemporaryAfricanArt #AfricanArt #AfricanDiaspora #AfricanArtists #ArtBaselWeek #BaselArtWeek #ArtCommunity

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My Aunty Moe @mosunmola132 took me to the @opendayforgardeners yesterday because she knows how much I love plants. It was just a delight to be with my aunts @mosunmola132 and @mbanefoobiago the joy was exhilarating.

I’m so glad she did.

I barely filmed anything. Not because there wasn’t anything to film, but because I was too busy looking, discovering and marvelling.

Honestly, it felt like walking into a candy store for plant lovers.

I discovered the most beautiful Monkey Tail, Bird’s Nest Fern @eudanafarms and Kura Kura Turtle Back @ace_d_plant_lady , bought a gorgeous Coleus from @astroroseplants.ng , and spent time with my big sis Ozo from @flowerplus , who gifted me the sweetest little pink Moon Cactus.

Then there was the plant swap organised by @drpamela_ and the @dawnprojectnetwork . I swapped my mango seedling with @dolapoosinbajo and came home with a ground orchid and purple iris.

And somehow, we ended the day at the theatre watching London Life Lagos Living, adapted from my Ijebu brother @bobo.omotayo ’s book. @k8henshaw , @theonlychigul and @ihuomalindaejiofor @gideonokeke.ng and a host of other amazing actors were brilliant.

But when I think about yesterday, what stays with me most isn’t the plants or the play.

It’s how I felt.

Alive. Curious. Completely absorbed.

And I’m realising more and more that this is what nature does for me.

I see God in the colours, shapes, textures, variety and sheer impossibility of a tiny seed becoming something extraordinary.

Nature puts me in awe.

And perhaps that’s what we lose as adults. We get so caught up in life that we forget what it feels like to be genuinely fascinated by something.

To stop.
To stare.
To discover.
To forget your phone because you’re too busy being amazed.

Yesterday reminded me that I need more of that.

More wonder. More discovery.
More moments that make me say, “Oh my goodness… look at that!”

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ARTROAD – Exhibition | “Never Forget the Hands That Opened the Gate.” Duke Asidere Honours His Teacher Through The Heart of Steel

“That we have over 720 paintings in our studio in Lekki is simply because we listened to the voices of our teachers. They told us to read, read and read.” — Duke Asidere

Words Ireho Aito | Don’t Keep Your Art in the Finger! Artwork Credit: Matt Ehizele, Photographs of events provided by Duke Asidere archives

From Saturday, July 18 to Saturday, July 25, 2026, the National Museum, Onikan, Lagos, became more than an exhibition space. Open daily from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., it welcomed visitors into “Udu Ematon The Heart of Steel,” a remarkable solo exhibition by veteran sculptor Matt Ehizele, presented by acclaimed Nigerian painter and President of the Guild of Professional Fine Artists of Nigeria (GFA), Duke Asidere. The exhibition has since been widely celebrated, not only for the strength and elegance of Ehizele’s steel sculptures but also for the profound story behind it. It was the story of a former student honouring one of the teachers who helped shape his artistic journey at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.

There is something profoundly moving about a successful student returning to honour the teacher who helped shape his future. In an age where achievements are often celebrated without acknowledging the shoulders upon which they stand, Duke Asidere reminds us that gratitude remains one of the greatest virtues an artist can possess. Read more....https://ibandmagazine.wordpress.com/2026/07/21/artroad-exhibition-never-forget-the-hands-that-opened-the-gate-duke-asidere-honours-his-teacher-through-the-heart-of-steel/

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Africa Basel 2026 | Mwamba Chikwemba & Natasha Evans

The artists finished the work, we got our visa, Natasha couldn’t travel but we traveled borders, we hanged the work, we gathered and exchanged with artists, curators, art fairs and collectors within the art world…

Zikomo to @africabasel @michele.sandoz @mbanefoobiago @joenadillier for working with us to continue to build relationships with the city of Basel and calling on the Zambians…

#africabasel #mwambachikwemba #natashaevansart #modziarts #modziartsgallery

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Art week dump ➰➰➰

Africa Basel + Art Basel + Basel Social Club + Most Beautiful Swiss Books + family + friends

Special thanks to @mbanefoobiago @smocontemporaryart for the invitation <3

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Today we celebrate a distinguished member of our Governing Council.

We are deeply grateful for your guidance, wisdom, and unwavering support.

May the year ahead be filled with enduring success, fulfillment and joy

SARTCOL Team

#art #artcollector #artgalleries #shyllonmuseum #gaiaafricaclub

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