Jerry Buhari is a renowned artist whose works reflect themes of the environment and the political and social woes of his native Nigeria. In this episode, he talks about how human development has affected his place of birth in the rural north of the country, how ethnic tensions and political repression affected him and his art, his obsession with miniature paintings and micro objects within his larger works, the spectre of oil pollution and the presence of the Boko Haram insurgency, why he began using fabric as his “canvas”, his use of unusual materials and collaborators, and about his latest exhibition on the subject of African migration.

Jerry Buhari talking with Bob Chaundy

Warm from the Spillage series, 2016

Journal of an Old City, 2013

Landscape of Angels and Devourer, 2020-22

Politiician’s Daughter with Many Jewelries, 2021-2 (sand and coffee on paper)

The Emperor and the People, from Black and White series

We Are All Japa, 2025

All images are © Jerry Buhari

Japa is showing at the Ed Cross Gallery until 26 June 2025