Hamburger Bahnhof presents figurative drawings by Toyin Ojih Odutola that interplay between history and representation. These narrative portraits trace the lives of various characters and incorporate every day or monumental settings, often interwoven with architectural details. Ojih Odutola will transform the museum’s east cabinet into Adijatu straße, a station on the fictional U22 underground line, in order to thematise the interplay of movement and history.

Shaped by the artist’s upbringing as a West African woman in the American South, Ojih Odutola’s work examines social and political dynamics through the vehicle of skin, the fluidity of expression, and the meaning of darkness and light. The artist's first solo exhibition in Germany will show around 25 works drawn on paper, board and linen.

Toyin Ojih Odutola (born 1985 in Ife, Nigeria, lives and works in New York, USA) places the human figure at the centre of her work and uses traditional drawing media such as ink, charcoal, and pastel to create large-scale, intricate portraits. Ojih Odutola constructs complex fictional mythologies in her narrative works, challenging viewers to question power dynamics, colonial history, and perceptions of African expression and sexual orientation. She has recently presented exhibitions at Kunsthalle Basel (Switzerland), SFMOMA (California, USA), Barbican Centre (United Kingdom), Whitney Museum (New York, USA), and her work was featured in the Nigerian Pavilion at the 60th Venice Biennale 2024.