Artists

Jimoh Buraimoh is an acclaimed Nigerian artist who was born into a Muslim royal family in Oshogbo, Osun State, in 1943. Buraimoh participated in the 1964 summer school programme of the Mbari Mbayo Club’s experimental art workshops facilitated by Guyanese artist Denis Williams. Known for his colourful murals and ‘beaded paintings’, Buraimoh is regarded as one of the most significant artists of the Oshogbo Art School, which was established through the Mbari Mbayo workshops.

Working with tiles, beads and cowry shells, Buraimoh’s mosaics are distinguished by their unique blend of a Byzantine style and ceremonial Yoruba motifs. He was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Centre for African and African American Art and Culture in San Francisco in 1996, and in 1997, his mosaic mural The Elders was awarded Best Mural of the Year by the Atlanta Urban Design Commission. Notably, in 1983, he was the first Nigerian to be awarded a membership to the Contemporary World Association of Mosaic Artists in Ravenna, Italy.

His work has been exhibited widely in major retrospectives, solo presentations and group shows. Buraimoh is included in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art in Washington, and his murals adorn public spaces and important buildings in Nigeria, Europe and the United States.

Buraimoh is also a committed teacher who has instructed students, taught workshops and presented lectures on his distinctive style of beaded painting and mosaicking. The artist has primarily been involved in art education programmes in Manchester, England and in Atlanta, USA, where artworks created with his students are permanently on display at the city’s Hartsfield-Jackson Airport.