Nine Voices: The Inaugural Akoje Residency Exhibition

The Akoje Residency is delighted to present Nine Voices, an exhibition showcasing the work of nine artists selected for the 2024/25 Akoje Residency, a not-for-profit programme delivered in partnership with The King’s Foundation and Qatar Museums. This fully funded residency offers a rare opportunity for artists to step away from the demands of daily life and immerse themselves in focused creative development.
The selection panel reviewed more than 250 applications. From this diverse and highly competitive field, nine artists were chosen, each bringing a distinctive perspective and a compelling artistic vision. The 2024/25 cohort comprises Oliver Enwonwu, Kelly Omodamwen, Olawunmi Banjo, Minenkulu Ngoyi, Oshorenoya David Francis, Beya Gille Gacha, Nelly Ating, Maryam Al Tajer, and Zainab AlShibani.
Based at Coachford Cottage on the Dumfries House Estate, the residency provided a peaceful and supportive environment for reflection, exploration, and making. The Ayrshire landscape, with its quiet rhythms and sense of stillness, offered the conditions for ideas to unfold organically, allowing the artists to deepen their practices in ways often difficult to achieve amid the pace of everyday life.
During their residency, the artists travelled to new towns and cities, visited galleries and museums, and encountered works that sparked new lines of inquiry. They engaged with different cultures and creative communities, both locally and through the diversity of the cohort itself. These shared experiences fostered dialogue, encouraged the exchange of ideas, and formed connections that extend beyond their time at Coachford Cottage.
As a fully funded programme, the Akoje Residency gave each artist the freedom to experiment, whether by testing new materials, returning to skills they wished to refine, or pursuing ideas previously set aside. Free from financial pressure and time constraints, the residents were able to take creative risks, develop new processes, and strengthen confidence in the direction of their work.
The works presented in Nine Voices mark moments of exploration and growth. They carry traces of landscapes walked, journeys undertaken, materials tested, and the quiet hours spent shaping emerging ideas. Together, the exhibition reflects artists who have been given the rare opportunity to pause, reconsider, and move forward with clarity.
Across the exhibition, display strategies play a central role in shaping how the works are experienced. Kelly Omodamwen’s terracotta sculptures are presented within a grounded, material-led installation: placed on simple box plinths finished in stone and terracotta tones and set within beds of sand, the works appear to emerge from a shared, elemental landscape. This arrangement emphasises stillness, material connection, and presence, bringing distinct artistic voices into dialogue through a common physical ground. Elsewhere, seventeen sketches by Oshorenoya David Francis are presented as a vision–memo board, interwoven with ticket stubs, entrance passes, and train tickets collected during the
residency. This evolving archive traces movement, observation, and fleeting moments, revealing how travel, encounters, and everyday experiences feed directly into artistic development. Nelly Ating’s print works are displayed using a hanging method inspired by traditional darkroom practices, recalling the way photographs are suspended to dry. Reflecting the artist’s photographic background, this approach foregrounds process, sequencing, and material sensitivity, bridging photographic tradition with contemporary printmaking. Maryam AlTajer’s works are suspended within the space between sculptural obelisk forms and arranged in gentle semi-circular arcs. Hanging away from the walls, they introduce air and movement into the gallery, allowing the works to respond subtly to space and to the presence of the viewer. This installation emphasises flow, balance, and spatial dialogue, offering a sense of openness rather than fixed containment.
Akoje Residency is proud to share the outcomes of the 2024/25 cohort. Nine Voices speaks to what becomes possible when artists are offered time, space, and meaningful support to focus fully on their creative journeys.
The works on display are available for purchase. Proceeds directly support the Akoje Residency and help sustain opportunities for current and future artists. We are also seeking to expand our network of donors and partners. If you are interested in supporting the programme, please contact info@akojegallery.com.