sonder: between presence and perception
Exhibition
May 18–31, 2025 | Lianna Foundation, Lagos
Lianna Foundation & Gallery presented SONDER ; Between Presence and Perception, a group exhibition reflecting on the quiet yet profound realization that each person carries an inner world as vivid and complex as our own. Curated by David Oluwatoyin, the exhibition featured works by Akíntòmídé Aluko, Funke Oladimeji, Ozangeobuoma Prince Orlu, and Tony Jagas.
Moving through figuration, observation, and quiet intimacy, the works explored how presence and perception shape our understanding of others. Through colour, gesture, and form, each artist mapped the distance between appearance and truth—between how we are seen and who we are.
Set against the backdrop of Lagos—a city alive with intersecting stories—SONDER asked a simple but urgent question: How do we learn to see one another more clearly?
In its essence, the exhibition became a quiet act of empathy, a space for viewers to slow down, witness, and perhaps begin to understand the fragile in-between where connection begins.
curatorial overview
Sonder: Between Presence and Perception
This exhibition reflects on the quiet realization that every individual carries a world as vivid and complex as our own. Through this lens, the exhibition gathers four artists — Akíntòmídé Aluko, Funke Oladimeji, Ozangeobuoma Prince Orlu, and Tony “Jagas” Inyama to explore how presence and perception shape our understanding of others.
The body of works exhibited moves between intimacy, observation, and figuration. They reveal how subtle the human emotion, memory, and interaction can be translated through gestures, colors, and forms. Each artist examines the unseen narratives that exist between people, the distance between how we appear and how we are truly perceived.
Sonder becomes both a reflection and an act of empathy. The city, alive with intersecting stories and fleeting encounters, mirrors the exhibition’s central question: how do we see one another beyond appearances? In its essence, Sonder reminds us that art’s power lies not only in expression but in perception — in the quiet act of slowing down to witness the humanity that surrounds us.
Between presence and perception lies the fragile space where understanding begins, and it is within this space that these artists invite us to dwell. Indulge not only in viewing this body of works, but in the possibility of enriching your collection through them.
