Montague Contemporary is pleased to present new works by Dina Nur Satti and Wole Lagunju at EXPO Chicago 2025. These two powerful voices—one rooted in the esoteric symbolism of Nubian ceramic tradition, the other reimagining Yoruba heritage through contemporary figuration—embody distinct yet complementary approaches to the concept of transformation, ancestry, and identity.
DINA NUR SATTI
Born in Chad and raised across France, Kenya, and the United States, Dina Nur Satti is a Brooklyn-based ceramic artist whose practice is deeply influenced by pre-colonial African societies and ritual traditions. Drawing from her Sudanese and Somali heritage, Satti's vessels are made using the ancient coiling technique—slow, meditative, and tactile—paying homage to the ceremonial use of clay across the African continent. Her Lotus Series, inspired by the Nubian deity Apademek, meditates on the lotus flower as a metaphor for transformation and rebirth. Her black-glazed and red clay vessels echo the tones of ancient Sudanese Kerma pottery, rendered with reverence and spiritual intention.
Satti’s work has been exhibited internationally at institutions such as the Triennale de Milano, 1-54 Art Fair (Marrakech, New York), and the Petrie Museum in London. She was selected as one of Architectural Digest Middle East’s AD100 Artists and Designers (2024, 2025), and has been profiled in Vogue, Whitewall, Interior Design, and Business of Home. She has completed residencies at Saint Heron and Palm Heights, and will open her first New York solo exhibition with Montague Contemporary in May 2025.
WOLE LAGUNJU
A leading voice in the redefinition of postcolonial African identity, Wole Lagunju merges classical Yoruba aesthetics with European portraiture traditions. Trained at Obafemi Awolowo University in Nigeria, Lagunju challenges the legacy of colonial visual languages by infusing traditional Yoruba Gelede masks into Victorian-style figures, questioning ideals of beauty, gender, and power. His works blend the sacred and the satirical, offering a dynamic critique of hybridity and cultural legacy.
Lagunju’s works are held in the permanent collections of the Toledo Museum of Art, Denver Art Museum, and Saint Louis Art Museum, among others. He has been featured in exhibitions at the New Orleans Museum of Art, Zeitz MOCAA, and the National Museum of African Art (Smithsonian Institution).
