JESUS OF LÜBECK

Named after one of the earliest European slave ships to traverse the Atlantic, Jesus of Lübeck is a sculptural installation that reanimates history through the haunting metaphor of maritime migration. First exhibited at Retro Africa Gallery in Abuja, Nigeria, and now housed in the permanent collection of the Yemisi Shyllon Museum of Art in Lagos, this life-sized canoe installation confronts the layered violence of colonial legacy, contemporary displacement, and the perilous routes that persist in their wake.

At the heart of the piece is a fisherman’s canoe, rendered in deep blue and adorned with rich Adire patterns which is native to Yoruba artisanship. Within its hollow are stacked cardboard boxes, recurring emblems in Nwadiogbu’s practice, which serve here as stand-ins for the countless African migrants who risk everything for a slim hope of safety and opportunity across the Mediterranean. These boxes, fragile, weather-worn, and symbolic, echo the anonymity and disposability often imposed on Black lives in transit.

Like boxes, Black bodies were once stacked in ships and traded overseas. Today, these same bodies are paying fortunes to pile into dreadful rafts, with the insane hope to reach alive the shores of a continent that continues to fight them back. The installation draws upon historical reference while confronting present-day urgency. As the title suggests, the canoe is not merely a vessel but a spectral echo of the Jesus of Lübeck, the 16th-century ship commandeered by the English Crown and later deployed in the transatlantic slave trade. This historical citation bridges past and present, charting a continuum of forced movement, from the brutality of slavery to the contemporary tragedies of economic and political exile.

Suspended by thick chains that disappear into the ceiling or balanced on twin pillars that raise it from the ground, the canoe becomes a dramatic apparition caught between flight and fall. Its theatrical elevation invites awe and unease, evoking both the fragility of the migrant journey and the weight of the histories that propel it.

Created in collaboration with the lagoon community of Ilaje, Lagos, with assistance from Seyi Alabi.
Supported by Retro Africa Gallery, who provided production, logistics, and exhibition support.