📖 ABSTRACT/OVERVIEW
The representation of gender in visual art operates as a site where cultural norms, power relations, and artistic intention intersect, making the analysis of gender representation in Nigerian visual art a window into the complex negotiations between tradition, modernity, and feminist critique. This study analyses gender representation in Nigerian visual artworks produced and exhibited between 2018 and 2024, examining paintings, sculpture, photography, and digital art by both male and female artists. A systematic visual analysis methodology is applied to 200 artworks selected from exhibition records, gallery collections, and online artist portfolios, coding for the gender of depicted subjects, the roles and postures in which bodies are represented, the gaze structures established, and the ideological frameworks suggested by visual choices. The study is supplemented by in-depth interviews with 15 artists on their intentional approaches to gender representation. The theoretical framework draws on feminist art criticism, the gaze theory of Laura Mulvey applied to non-Western visual culture, and the gender and development literature. The study examines whether the period under review shows a shift toward more diverse and critically engaged gender representation in Nigerian visual art, or whether conventional patterns of male-centred and decorative female representation remain dominant. The analysis disaggregates findings by artist gender to examine whether female artists employ systematically different representational strategies. Findings contribute to feminist art history, gender studies, and curatorial practice in Nigeria. Keywords: gender representation, Nigerian visual art, feminist art criticism, contemporary art, visual analysis
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