Olukemi Lijadu's 'Feedback' Explores Black Atlantic Sonic Continuum at Spike Island

Olukemi Lijadu's largest solo exhibition, 'Feedback', is on view at Spike Island, Bristol until 10 May 2026. The exhibition features video, archival footage, and a custom sound system built with Ramsham Collective, juxtaposing a drum-and-bass rave in Lagos with scenes from Bristol. Lijadu, an artist and DJ, traces a West African sonic continuum from Yoruba spirituality to contemporary electronic music. Her work engages with feedback as concept and method, amplifying and distorting sound to explore memory, contradiction, and the impossibility of pinning sound to a place. The exhibition includes a film that incorporates unplanned encounters, such as a Black dancer from FESTAC 1977 in Chicago and a visit to Detroit where she encountered disagreements with DeForrest Brown Jr.'s claims. Lijadu's practice is deeply personal, drawing on family history: her great-great-great-great-grandfather Reverend E.M. Lijadu wrote the first written record of Yoruba spirituality, and her aunts, the Lijadu Sisters, were a musical duo. She will perform at Bristol New Music this year as an extension of the exhibition. The interview was conducted by Sarah Johanna Theurer, a curator at Haus der Kunst Munich.