Sheffield Museums acquires work by Rotimi Fani Kayode

Rotimi Fani-Kayode's Adebiyi (1989), recently acquired by Sheffield Museums, is on view in Lives in Focus: Photography in Sheffield’s Collection at Graves Gallery through 27 February 2027.
 
Drawn from Sheffield's collection, the exhibition celebrates photography’s unique power to reveal connections spanning generations, geographies and shared histories. 
 
Adebiyi is one of a series of performative and meticulously crafted colour portraits made between 1987–1989, in the final years of Fani-Kayode's life. In these richly saturated colour photographs, illuminated figures emerge from dark backdrops, recalling the chiaroscuro of Baroque painting and reflecting Fani-Kayode's exploration of the relationship between erotic fantasy and ancestral spiritual values.
 
The new acquisition was purchased with support from the JG Graves Charitable Trust, Arts Council England/V&A Purchase Grant Fund and Art Fund.
 
August 12, 2026