There is a quiet expectation for Nigerian art to be ‘vibrant.’ To be full of dancing masquerades, market scenes, and golden sunsets that sit comfortably on the walls of hotel lobbies.

We are tired of comfortable art.

At The Ugly Collective, we are interested in the spaces between the joy. We are exploring the tension of Lagos traffic at 5 AM, the silence of a power outage, the friction between tradition and modernity. We believe that art shouldn’t just decorate a room; it should disrupt it.

When our poets write, they don’t just rhyme; they bleed. When our visual artists paint, they don’t just cover the canvas; they scar it. This isn’t about being pessimistic—it’s about being whole. You cannot paint the portrait of a nation if you refuse to use the darker shades on your palette.

We invite you to look closer at what we create. It might not always match your sofa, but it will always match the truth.