Ekow Nimako Builds Afrofuturist Nile Civilisation from Black LEGO

Ghanaian-Canadian artist Ekow Nimako presents 'Building Black Civilisations – The Nile 3025 CE' at Wereldmuseum Amsterdam, an exhibition of monumental sculptures made entirely from black LEGO. The work imagines a liberated Africa in the year 3025, merging ancient Nile civilisations with Afrofuturist visions of technological transcendence and ancestral memory. Nimako uses micro-scale techniques and incorporates modern Black hairstyles (afros, braids, puffs) as trees and forests, made possible by The LEGO Group's diversification of racialised characters. The exhibition includes a public play zone but does not allow audience modification of the artworks. Nimako discusses how his work challenges colonial narratives by envisioning an uninterrupted African history, and how LEGO's 'cultural polarity' between global iconography and Black themes drives his practice. The exhibition ran from 31 October 2025 to 8 March 2026.