The photographs from Victor Ekpuk’s current exhibition give us another look at Dancer, Still Moving at the Goethe-Institut Washington.

Words Ireho Aito | Don’t Keep Your Art in the Finger! Opening reception photographs: Maxwell Glover, @blackbrandagency
Additional photographs: Victor Ekpuk

“Awww!! Thank you son…” was typed in by proud father Victor Ekpuk on his Instagram story when his son was given a befitting appreciation to his father’s exploits over the years, promoting the culture of his people, Nigerians and Africans. He says in his American accent that he is extremely proud of his father and even more elated to be wearing one of his customised T-shirts with Nsibidi designs, simply making him more fashionable and happy to have such a father.

It was a moment that brought the personal side of Ekpuk’s story into the exhibition experience, where art, family, culture and pride came together. And it is within these moments that the photographs from the exhibition begin to tell their own story.

Some of these photographs were taken during the opening reception. The photographs by Maxwell Glover of @blackbrandagency show the exhibition, the works and some of the people who came to experience Ekpuk’s latest presentation. There are also photographs taken by Victor Ekpuk, offering a view of the exhibition through the artist’s own camera.

For Ekpuk, the ideas behind Dancer go back to a visual language that has been part of his life from childhood. Speaking with iBAND Magazine, he explained, “Nsibidi wasn’t something I ‘discovered’ from the outside; it was already in my childhood memory.”

That cultural memory continues to inform the way he moves between drawing and sculpture. As he told iBAND, “My drawing mark becomes physical structure.” The line, therefore, does not simply remain on paper; it can take form, occupy space and become part of a public environment.

And this is why the work does not demand that every viewer immediately decode its symbols. Ekpuk puts it simply: “Meaning is felt before it is decoded.”

As reported, in our earlier editions and interviews with Victor Ekpuk, Dancer, Still Moving opened on August 26, 2026, bringing together Ekpuk’s continuing exploration of movement, drawing, sculpture and his Nsibidi-inspired visual language.

From visuals and photographs of the exhibtion, it is obvious to see that this is a successful exhibtion.

The exhibition develops ideas around Ekpuk’s monumental Dancer, bringing together sculpture, works on paper and a limited-edition serigraph.

For those unable to experience the exhibition in person, these photographs provide a visual passage into the exhibition.

The exhibition, Dancer, Still Moving by Victor Ekpuk, remains open at the Goethe-Institut Washington and will close on September 29, 2026.

iBAND Magazine, Celebrating Visual Art from the Original.
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