Biography

Olanrewaju Ayinla Tejuoso (b. 1974, Abeokuta, Nigeria) is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice spans painting, mixed media, performance, and large-scale installation. Rooted in environmental inquiry, his work interrogates consumption, waste, and material afterlife through the transformation of discarded synthetic materials.

Tejuoso is the founder and curator of Aroko Green Museum, Abeokuta, a community-based art and ecology initiative that merges creative practice with environmental advocacy. Working primarily with water sachets, polythene bags, biscuit wrappers, and other consumer waste, he reclaims materials sourced from domestic and public waste sites, reconfiguring them into immersive installations that speak to sustainability, climate change, and adaptation.

His process is both methodical and symbolic: materials are collected, cleaned, sorted, and reorganised by colour, texture, and volume before being woven, stitched, tied, or wrapped into two- and three-dimensional forms. These works often hang, sprawl, or cascade into architectural space, functioning as visual metaphors for ecological accumulation and excess. He describes this philosophy as "From Waste to Life," a practice inspired by the biblical passage 1 Corinthians 1:28, which reflects his interest in redemption, transformation, and overlooked value.

Tejuoso holds a degree in Fine Art Education from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and has exhibited extensively across Nigeria and internationally, including presentations in Senegal, Cuba, Indonesia, Cameroon, Italy, Russia, and the United States. His work has featured in major platforms such as Dak'Art Biennale, Havana Biennale, Biennale Jogja, and Imago Mundi.

He has undertaken artist residencies in Philadelphia, Yogyakarta, Douala, and Abeokuta, and his works are held in institutional collections including the Museum of Black Civilizations, Dakar, and the Yemisi Shyllon Museum of Art, Lagos. In 2018, he received the Prix Revelation Award at Dak'Art 13 Biennale.

Tejuoso lives and works in Abeokuta, Nigeria, where his practice continues to engage material transformation as both an artistic and ecological act.