The Role of Contemporary African Art in Constructing Transnational Nigerian Identity in the Diaspora

Nigerian diaspora artists working across Europe, North America, and other locations occupy a distinctive position in the contemporary art world, simultaneously engaging with the global art market, negotiating their Nigerian cultural heritage, and constructing transnational identities through their creative practice. This study develops an original theoretical framework for understanding how contemporary Nigerian diaspora artists use visual art to construct, negotiate, and communicate transnational Nigerian identities, and tests the framework through empirical research. The theoretical contribution is a model of diasporic identity construction through art that identifies three modes: the nostalgic, in which artists use familiar cultural imagery to maintain affective connections to Nigerian heritage, the critical, in which artists engage analytically with Nigerian cultural politics and social conditions, and the hybrid, in which artists synthesise Nigerian heritage with the cultural influences of their country of residence into new aesthetic vocabularies. The empirical component uses in-depth interviews with 40 Nigerian diaspora artists living in the United Kingdom, United States, and Germany, combined with systematic visual analysis of 100 artworks produced between 2018 and 2024. The study examines how diaspora positioning affects artistic choices, market positioning, and critical reception differently from artists based in Nigeria. The theoretical framework draws on diaspora studies, transnationalism theory, the cultural identity literature, and postcolonial art criticism. Geographic origins within Nigeria of the diaspora artists are mapped to examine whether artists from different zones carry distinct cultural vocabularies into their diaspora practice. Findings contribute to diaspora studies, African contemporary art scholarship, and the transnationalism literature. Keywords: Nigerian diaspora, transnational identity, contemporary art, diasporic aesthetics, cultural heritage