What happens when a Nigerian master sculptor reimagines one of history’s most iconic queens? Adeola Balogun’s Rethinking Queen Nefertiti does more than pay tribute, it challenges us to reclaim our past and see history through our own lens. Writes Ireho Aito

At the recently concluded Ikeja Art Salon, organised by Artzero at BA’s Place in Ikeja GRA, held on the 16th and 17th of August 2025, one of Nigeria’s celebrated sculptors, Adeola Balogun, presented a work that stirred both admiration and reflection. Among his three submissions stood a striking piece titled Rethinking Queen Nefertiti is a Nigerian reinterpretation of the timeless Egyptian queen.

Balogun, known for his mastery of form and experimentation with materials, chose to reimagine the famed bust of Nefertiti not simply as an icon of beauty, but as a portal into questions of identity, memory, and heritage. In metal, he shaped a queen who is both ancient and present, distant yet near, Egyptian yet Nigerian. By renaming and reworking this historical figure, Balogun invites us to think deeply about how history travels, transforms, and belongs to all who dare to claim it.

Rethinking Queen Nefertiti is more than a sculpture. It is a statement. It reminds us that history is not static but living, capable of being reinterpreted in ways that shed light on our present realities. For Balogun, history is a mirror: it shows us where we come from and challenges us to rethink who we are becoming. In revisiting Nefertiti, he calls attention to the need for Africans to retrace their steps, to reconnect with cultural roots, and to own narratives that have too often been told from elsewhere.

In the glow of the Ikeja Art Salon, Balogun’s queen stood as both a tribute to the past and a call to the future. Through her, we are reminded that history is not only important, it is essential. Without it, we lose the thread of our identity; with it, we find the strength to reimagine ourselves.

Words/Ireho Aito/Don’t Keep Your Art in the Finger!/Photographs/Artzero/Ato Arinze