Monilola Olayemi Ilupeju's 'Second Skins' Confront Kolbe's Legacy at Georg Kolbe Museum

Key facts

• Monilola Olayemi Ilupeju is showing seven sculptures in the group exhibition 'everybody' at Georg Kolbe Museum, Berlin, through November 29, 2026.
• The exhibition is inspired by Olivia Laing's book 'Everybody: A Book about Freedom' and addresses body politics and sovereignty.
• Ilupeju used wet molding technique on leather, shaping it over Kolbe's sculptures to create 'second skins' or 'ghosts'.
• Her work 'Male Torso and Pelvis' (2026) references Kolbe's 'Zarathustras Erhebung IV' and includes studded underwear.
• Ilupeju's first leather work, 'Pale of Crabs' (2023), was made from a backpack she bought for $5 at Unique Thrift Store in Silver Spring, Maryland.
• She will present new leather paintings at the Armory Fair in New York, inspired by makeup contouring and algorithmic pressure.
• A self-portrait with hydroquinone cream references skin bleaching practices in Nigeria and colonial structures.
• On September 13, 2026, she will perform 'Church of Contrology' at the museum, including a libation ritual, Pilates exercises, mourning prose, and a 'baptism' in a kiddie pool.
• The performance takes place where Kolbe's 'Dancer's Fountain' once stood, which was recently sold for 4 million Euros.