Lighthouse Creative Hub showcases resident artists at Tola Wewe Gallery in Ondo City

Lighthouse Creative Hub, a community dedicated to empowering emerging Nigerian artists, has launched an exhibition in collaboration with Tola Wewe Gallery, a gallery based in Ondo City. The gallery space owned by Chief Tola Wewe, a renowned artist and former Ondo State Commissioner for Arts and Tourism, hosted this event. Titled, “The Journey is also a place”, this exhibition opened to the public at 2pm on June 12, 2026.

This exhibition showcases the captivating works created by three young artists namely, Ifeoluwa Oliver Akinbobola, Oluwarotimi Akinseye and Jeremiah Aladejobi, during their intensive one-month residency programme at the Lighthouse Creative Hub. The artworks shown in the exhibition explore the themes of identity, migration, memory, and religion. When asked about the inspiration behind the exhibition title, Godwin Rotimi, the curator said that, “The Journey is also a Place” was chosen as the exhibition title to emphasize the theory that a journey is not just a means to a destination. “It’s a space of transformation”, he states. “Through guidance and space provided by the creative hub, the artists created works inspired by their identity, history and journey in life.”

In his opening speech, Rotimi, who is also the founder of Lighthouse Creative Hub said that the residency programme was created to train artists how to develop their visual language and create a cohesive body of work. Also, he encouraged the audience to engage with the artworks and ask the artists questions.

Ifeoluwa Oliver Akinbobola’s body of work is focused on his deep relationship with his late grandmother. In his series of paintings titled Ayanmo (Destiny), Akinbobola portrays a metaphorical golden key which, according to him, represents access to destined pathways. Oluwarotimi Akinseye’s artworks draw from the history of the Ile-Oluji people, illustrating the story of how they were saved by a mythical buffalo in the wilderness during their migration back to their homeland.

Jeremiah Aladejobi’s body of work, which is titled, Ayika explores his connection to the spiritually-charged environments of the Celestial Church of Christ. His paintings portrayed nostalgic scenes of the church, where he spent his childhood as the son of a Shepherd.

Artists and art lovers within and outside Ondo City came in droves to attend the exhibition. The venue was filled with palpable excitement as people admired and engaged with the artworks.