Layo Bright (b. Lagos, Nigeria) is a sculptor whose works explore themes of migration, inheritance, legacy and identity through hybrid portraits, textiles, and mixed media. Concerned with mining personal archives and collective experiences she interrogates how materials shape perception, culture and politics. She draws inspiration from plant forms, family and ancestry in creating sculptural works that merge notions of nurture and legacy. Working with a range of materials such as glass, clay, wood and textiles, these forms mirror fragile yet complex relationships with the personal, natural and built environment. 

Working with ubiquitous plastic checkered bags often linked with migrants around the world, Bright juxtaposes the material with crushed glass, addressing overlooked histories and notions of class. In fusing these materials, she considers suppressed histories and the inevitability of migration in the current global climate. 

Bright has exhibited work internationally with group exhibitions including Woman to Woman, Bode Projects, Berlin, Germany; House of Crowns, Phillips, NY, USA; To Heal and Protect, Welancora Gallery, NY, USA; I Am Not A Goddess...Unless I Say I Am, Mike Adenuga Centre, among several others. She is currently partaking in the Art Cake Residency in New York.

Bright received her LL.B (Hons.) from Babcock University (2014), was called to the Nigerian Bar Association (2015) and received her MFA in Fine Art (Hons.) from the Parsons School of Design (2018).

Image details:  

Layo Bright 
Adebisi VII, 2020 
kiln formed glass 
11 1/2 x 11 1/2 x 3 in 
29.2 x 29.2 x 7.6 cm 
Courtesy of the artist and Monique Meloche Gallery. Image by Chris Gardner.