Performance Art and Body Politics in Nigerian Contemporary Art Practice

Performance art as a medium that deploys the artist's body as a primary material has developed a significant if still marginal presence in Nigerian contemporary art, raising questions about the body's political meanings in a context shaped by specific cultural norms, religious values, and postcolonial experiences of bodily subjugation. This study analyses performance art practices and body politics in Nigerian contemporary art, examining the work of performance artists active in Lagos, Port Harcourt, and Kaduna between 2018 and 2024. A qualitative research design is employed, combining documentation and critical analysis of 25 performance works with in-depth interviews with 15 performance artists. The study examines the performative strategies employed, the bodily risks and exposures navigated by artists, the political and social themes addressed through bodily performance, and the reception of performance art by Nigerian gallery audiences and media. The theoretical framework draws on performance studies, body politics scholarship, and the feminist and postcolonial theory of the embodied subject. The study examines the specific constraints that Nigerian cultural and religious norms place on bodily expression in performance art and how artists navigate these constraints in their creative choices. The geographic diversity of the study sites allows for analysis of how audience expectations and institutional contexts in Lagos, the South South, and the North West shape the possibilities and limits of performance art. Recent literature on African performance art has identified it as a rapidly growing but underresearched field. Findings contribute to performance studies and Nigerian contemporary art criticism. Keywords: performance art, body politics, Nigerian contemporary art, embodiment, visual culture