Tokini Peterside-Schwebig understands the power of art. It’s why she created Art X Lagos, the premiere art fair and the only one of its kind in West Africa that brings Nigerian and African art to an international audience of collectors, gallerists, arts patrons, and more. “I wanted to build a bridge between Nigeria, Africa, and the rest of the world,” she reveals.
It’s a bright and hot morning in Lagos, as the Art X team hosts an intimate breakfast on the terrace of the Federal Palace hotel, where the signing of Nigeria’s Declaration of Independence took place in 1960. The location itself is fortuitous. Overlooking the Lagos lagoon, I sat down with the art fair founder to discover the pivotal moments in her life that led to Art X. She is soft-spoken with kind eyes, and behind them, a pulsing determination that radiates.
The daughter of the well-known Nigerian banker Atedo Peterside, Peterside-Schwebig was raised between Nigeria and London, and like her parents generation before hers experienced the relentless waves of political unrest and instabilities of Nigeria’s post-colonial government. Following in the footsteps of her father, she studied in the UK but yearned to live and work in Lagos, and after completing her MBA in 2015, returned. After graduation, she began her career in marketing and joined Moët Hennessy, in Nigeria, as Head of Marketing before founding Art X a short year later.
Building a platform at home was paramount; as Peterside-Schwebig was deeply inspired by her experiences at school and while traveling aboard. At her university, she read the work of classical and contemporary Nigerian writers. Traveling to India, a country that was similar to Nigeria, having also lived through the clutches of British colonial rule, and as well, home to a dynamic artistic and cultural history left a lasting mark on her. Back in Lagos, surrounded by the city’s audacious energy, she recognized an opportunity to centralize and democratize art and culture in the bustling city. Due in large part to Nigeria’s colonial past, many citizens have been deprived of knowing the great cultural and artistic achievements of Nigerian heritage. Before Art X no contemporary fair existed in West Africa to showcase the rigorous talent of artists in Nigeria and across the region. The luxury marketer turned art aficionado knew that building a bridge between Lagos, and the rest of the world offered limitless opportunities to create real and lasting change in the cultural sector.
The fair, which celebrated its 10th anniversary last month, opened with a who’s who of the Lagos art scene, from politicians and cultural leaders to tech giants and investors in Africa’s fast-growing city. Providing a platform for creative ingenuity and education, the fair’s expanded programming over the past decade has come to include film screenings, live musical performances, a children’s school’s program, and the Access ART X Prize, which includes a $10,000 grant, a residency at Gasworks London or G.A.S. Foundation Lagos, and an exhibition at a future ART X Lagos event.
For the Lagos-born founder, building community is at the heart of Art X and its mission is to make art more accessible. Art became a way to not only connect with local Nigerians but to also bring an international audience to Lagos. “I wanted to be a catalyst and democratize access to the arts enabling people from all walks of life to be able to come and experience art.”
This year’s edition of the fair, entitled Imagining Otherwise, No Matter the Tide, included presentations from the established Nike Art Gallery and Tiwani Contemporary, to more emerging outposts like kó and Wunika Mukan Gallery, which both launched in 2020. Special projects included Nengi Omuku’s, External Realities, Internal Geographies: This Too Shall Pass, and an Art X Icon exhibition celebrating the groundbreaking work of J.D. ’Okhai Ojeikere, best known for his series of women’s hairstyles found in Nigeria. Omuku is known for her use of traditional Yoruba sanyan textiles spun from wild silk and natural cotton that represent the rich heritage and tradition of Yoruba culture. Its moments that highlight Nigeria’s past and present, through cultural nationalism that amplify the fair’s impact as a force driving change and increasing education and awareness of the power of art as a vehicle for transformation.
When I reflect on my time at Art X, I think back to my first conversation with Peterside-Schwebig before the VIP preview of Art X Lagos 10. The multi-day art fair that’s grown into a week-long cultural festival. I asked if she’s achieved the goals she set out to a decade ago. “My dream was big from the beginning,” she explains. “I wanted to put Lagos on the global arts and culture calendar.” As I leave the fair on the final day, listening to the laughter of children, and the buzzing energy through the halls, I can see she most certainly has.