Tola Wewe

Born in 1959, Tola Wewe trained and graduated with a degree in Fine Arts from the University of Ife, Osun State in 1983. He then went on to obtain a Master's degree in African Visual Arts from the University of Ibadan, Oyo State in 1986. He worked as a cartoonist before becoming a full-time studio artist in 1991.

He is also a founding member of Ona movement, which emerged in February 1989. The Ona movement is a group of scholars, critics and practicing artists committed to pursuing artistic excellence through the adaptation and interpretation of traditional materials and methods, forms and styles of contemporary Yoruba art and design.

Tola Wewe was also a Commissioner for Culture and Tourism in Ondo State in Nigeria. Even while holding a governmental position, he continued to find time to paint whilst promoting tourism in Ondo which contributed to Nigerian tourism as a whole. He also organized the first international conference on culture in Akure, where international scholars, culture practitioners from different parts of the world came together to discuss ‘Culture and the Challenges of Development in Nigeria.’

The renowned artist who sees himself more as a witness than an author said “communicating with the spirits of the ancestors and drawing out the invisible spirits, the Anjonnu, Emere and the Ebora, who make the artworks. I am the vehicle, and they are the drivers. We go on these strange journeys to the most remote ends of imaginative experience".

Wewe, credits his style of painting to the Ona symbols of the Yoruba culture. This; he says remains his main source of inspiration, and his themes dwell on the traditional myths of his native Yoruba culture.