Meet the 2023 British Pavilion Artists

Muluku: 6 Bone Temple by Yussef Agbo-Ola

Born in rural Virginia in a multi-heritage Nigerian, African American, and Cherokee household, Yussef Agbo-Ola’s work reflects hybrid identities and relationships to different landscapes, ecologies, and cultural rituals. 

His British Pavilion exhibition work, Muluku: 6 Bone Temple is an architectural entity and sensory environment for worshipping non-human life and extinct species. 

Yussef’s Muluku: 6 Bone Temple shows organic cotton 'skins' inspired by traditional architectural elements within Yoruba and Cherokee cultures. They are  embroidered motifs reflecting cosmological belief systems within these cultures.

Dancing Before the Moon runs from 20 May to 26 November 2023. 

Yussef Agbo-Ola is one of six UK artists commissioned to create Dancing Before the Moon at the British Pavilion.  Click on the links to explore the work of the other five artists. 

Journey through our film of the full exhibition here.

Photos: Taran Wilkhu © British Council

Film: John Ingle © British Council

Visual identity: TEMPLO