Exhibition details
Temitayo Ogunbiyi describes her work as “responding to and forging dialogues between global current events, anthropological histories, design, and botanical cultures.” Interested in how play can serve humanity, Ogunbiyi has been researching the life and practice of Isamu Noguchi (1904–1988) for several years, exploring the ways in which his pioneering work in open-ended, non-directive play expands the civic reach of sculpture.
Building on Noguchi’s complex biography and the ways in which it manifests in his play sculpture designs, Ogunbiyi has created a site-specific, interactive sculpture for play, sculptures that can be used for music making, and an outdoor installation that features input from the greater museum community.
Building on Noguchi’s complex biography and the ways in which it manifests in his play sculpture designs, Ogunbiyi has created a site-specific, interactive sculpture for play, sculptures that can be used for music making, and an outdoor installation that features input from the greater museum community.
Artist details
Born in Rochester, New York, in 1984, Temitayo Ogunbiyi grew up in the outskirts of Philadelphia. Her work explores influences ranging from Yoruba hairstyling and Victorian hairwork to botanical forms and transnational travel.
Now living in Lagos, Nigeria, Ogunbiyi developed an interest in playground design through her experience raising her children in this city of over 20 million people, where she struggled to find public playgrounds. This, coupled with her own experiences growing up as a first-generation immigrant in the United States, born to Jamaican and Nigerian parents, influences her creation of public play sculptures. These sculptures aim to present play and exercise as a right for all children and adults.
Now living in Lagos, Nigeria, Ogunbiyi developed an interest in playground design through her experience raising her children in this city of over 20 million people, where she struggled to find public playgrounds. This, coupled with her own experiences growing up as a first-generation immigrant in the United States, born to Jamaican and Nigerian parents, influences her creation of public play sculptures. These sculptures aim to present play and exercise as a right for all children and adults.
Location
The Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum
9-01 33rd Road (at Vernon Boulevard)
Long Island City, New York 11106
Image: Temitayo Ogunbiyi, You will revisit paths to friendship, 2025. Commissioned for The Noguchi Museum / photo by Chanel Matsunami Govreau / courtesy of The Noguchi Museum