Recycling Matters II Brings Sustainability and Contemporary Art to Alexis Galleries

The Macallan has extended its engagement with contemporary African culture through its support of Recycling Matters II, a residency and exhibition presented in partnership with Alexis Galleries. The project places emerging Nigerian artists at the center of a wider conversation around material, process, and sustainability, while giving them the space to experiment and refine their practices.

The residency brought together four artists — Konboye Ebipade Eugene, Seye Morakinyo, Aliya Diseotu Victor, and Ibrahim Afegbua — for an intensive period of studio work focused on transformation. Working with discarded rubber, scrap metal, fabric remnants, binding wires, and other reclaimed materials, each artist developed new bodies of work that reimagine waste as something deliberate and valuable. 

The exhibition, hosted at Alexis Galleries in Lagos, opened with a private viewing on February 7, 2026. Artists, collectors, cultural practitioners, media, and stakeholders gathered to see the resulting works and engage with the ideas behind them. At its core, Recycling Matters II invites viewers to reconsider their relationship with consumption, sustainability, and contemporary African expression.

For The Macallan, the partnership reflects a familiar philosophy. The distillery’s single-malt whiskies are shaped by time, patience, and careful selection. In a similar way, the artists involved in Recycling Matters II approach their materials through slow, intentional processes, distilling discarded objects into works with both aesthetic and social weight.

Speaking on the collaboration, Hammed Adebiyi, Senior Brand Manager, West and Central Africa (WACA), Edrington Portfolio, described it as a meeting of shared values. He noted that at The Macallan, mastery is understood as a journey rather than a fixed point. Supporting the residency, he said, is about investing in a future where craftsmanship and environmental responsibility sit side by side, and where the overlooked can be transformed into something extraordinary.

Patty Chidiac-Mastrogiannis, founder of Alexis Galleries, echoed this sentiment, emphasizing the importance of sustained support for artistic experimentation. With The Macallan’s involvement, she explained, the residency becomes a space where artists are free to push boundaries, while opening up broader conversations about waste, consumption, and creative responsibility to a global audience.

The artists themselves describe the residency as a rare and necessary space for growth. Sculptor Ibrahim Afegbua, who works primarily with binding wires and cut-off pipes, spoke about the freedom to experiment with form and technique. The process, he said, allows audiences to better understand the rhythm, storytelling, and labor that shape his work.

For mixed-media artist Seye Morakinyo, the residency offered room to deepen his engagement with discarded fabrics and paper. Through cutting, layering, and molding, his practice reveals new textures and meanings within materials often dismissed as worthless, positioning upcycling as both method and message.

Konboye Ebipade Eugene, whose practice transforms discarded footwear into intricate stitched compositions, brings a perspective rooted in human resilience. His work, previously featured by outlets such as Reuters and the BBC, underscores the emotional and social histories embedded in waste.

Sculptor Aliya Diseotu Victor rounds out the residency with works in reclaimed sheet metal, drawing on Ijaw cultural references and explorations of human and animal forms. His pieces consider heritage, anatomy, and interior space, while pointing to the environmental possibilities within reused materials.

Recycling Matters II is open to the public until February 21, 2026, from 10am to 6pm at Alexis Galleries, Victoria Island, Lagos. Visitors are invited to experience the finished works and trace the artists’ journeys from discarded materials to the gallery wall.