Ejiro Fenegal: Makers of Legacy
5th September, 2025 – 4th October, 2025
Mitochondria Gallery
2220 Commerce Street, D
Houston, TX. 77002
A debut exhibition in Houston showcases Ejiro Fenegal’s monumental sculptures honouring African women and rooted in Urhobo tradition.
HOUSTON — Mitochondria Gallery will open Makers of Legacy, the debut solo exhibition of Nigerian sculptor Ejiro Fenegal, on 5 September with a public reception from 7 to 9 p.m. The show runs through 4 October.
Fenegal’s work draws on the sculptural traditions of the Urhobo people of Nigeria’s Niger Delta, while engaging with contemporary forms. Her large-scale figures, cast in bonded marble and finished with vivid polychromatic patinas, honour African women across generations, recognising their labour, wisdom and resilience.
Resilience
Courtesy of Mitochondria Gallery
Working from live models as well as cultural memory, Fenegal reimagines archetypes familiar in Urhobo art — the maiden, the mother and the matriarch — and recasts them with both personal and collective meaning. The use of bonded marble underscores permanence but also stands as a metaphor for continuity and unity.
“Makers of Legacy is a tribute to the women who came before, the women shaping the present, and the women whose legacies will guide the future,” says Fenegal. “Through sculpture, their stories are rendered visible, permanent, and profoundly inspiring.”
Confidence II
Courtesy of Mitochondria Gallery
The exhibition places Fenegal in a lineage of Urhobo sculptors while highlighting her contemporary voice. Her practice intersects with broader conversations on heritage, gender and the transformative role of sculpture.
Founded in 2019 and based in Houston’s East Downtown, Mitochondria Gallery focuses on artists from Africa and the African diaspora. Its programme includes an in-house residency, international art fair participation and museum collaborations. Several of its artists are represented in permanent collections at major museums worldwide.
Ejiro Fenegal: Makers of Legacy opens on the 5th of September, 2025 until the 4th of October, 2025 at Mitochondria Gallery
©2025 Mitochondria Gallery
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