Hassan Aliyu's 40-Year Retrospective Explores Art, Memory, and Displacement

Hassan Aliyu's 40-year retrospective, "Epic Journeys," currently on display at Wolfson College and ArtSpace 5–7 in Cambridge, UK, offers a profound look at an artistic practice deeply intertwined with migration and memory. The exhibition, running until June 30, traces Aliyu's life and work, highlighting how displacement has shaped his creative output.

Aliyu, born in the UK in 1964 to Nigerian parents, experienced a childhood marked by frequent moves and a sense of unsettled belonging. His parents, who came to Britain seeking education and opportunity, faced racial hostility, leading to Aliyu and his twin sister being sent to live with their grandmother in Nigeria. This period of instability was further disrupted by the Nigerian Civil War in 1967. These early experiences of fractured identity and movement are reflected in his art through fragmented forms and unfinished surfaces, serving as a means to preserve memory.

“

My calling in life was to be an artist.

His artistic journey solidified during his time at Ahmadu Bello University, where he graduated in fine art in 1986, receiving the Nigeria Art Council Award for Best Final Year Student. His career began during a period of economic strain in Nigeria, exacerbated by the Structural Adjustment Programme. Despite his father's hopes for a career in law or politics, Aliyu pursued art, a calling he felt from a young age, recalling a childhood memory of drawing in the sand, only to have the wind erase his creations, prompting him to begin again, a cycle of creation, loss, and renewal that has defined his artistic practice.

The exhibition itself is described as both a celebration and a reflection on lived experiences. It showcases a world in constant motion, encompassing memories of migration, cross-cultural journeys, and the fluidity of identity. Aliyu's work uses paint, collage, and conceptual inquiry to hold together the fragments of a life scattered by displacement, offering viewers a compelling narrative of resilience and artistic perseverance.

“

That repetition, marking, losing, and starting over, would, in retrospect, reveal the first flickers of a calling.