Professor Jerry Buhari (b. 1959, Kaduna State, Nigeria) is a respected artist, curator and arts educator whose practice spans over four decades. Buhari studied at the Department of Fine Art, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, where he now serves as a professor. His work explores socio-political narratives, environmental issues, and intercultural dialogue through his practice and curatorial projects. In recent years, Buhari’s practice has engaged with the theme of migration, reflecting on the emotional, historical, and cultural dimensions of human movement across geographies. He has curated and contributed to exhibitions interrogating displacement, identity, and memory within African and global contexts. Buhari has curated numerous landmark exhibitions, including retrospectives for Abiodun Olaku and Jimo Akolo, and participated in international residencies and biennials in the US, UK, Cuba, and China. A founding member of the Aftershave International Artists Workshop, he is deeply committed to nurturing artistic exchange across Africa and beyond.
Buhari has received numerous awards and fellowships, including from the Commonwealth Foundation, the Japan Foundation, the Ford Foundation, Triangle Trust and Vermont Studio Centre. He is a Fellow of the Society of Nigerian Artists and has been listed in "Who is Who in Nigerian Art." He has held visiting professorships and lectureships at institutions such as Princeton University, Savannah College of Art and Design, and the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He also serves as an advisor to Arthouse Contemporary and curated their landmark exhibition on the Zaria Art Society in 2019.
Selected solo exhibitions include Landscapes of the Soul, Kó, Lagos (2022); Jerry Buhari, Kó, Lagos (2021); Framed Images of Time and Memories, Thought Pyramid Art Centre Wuse, Abuja (2017); Jerry Buhari in Retrospection: 33 Years +, Kashmiri Ibrahim Library and Department of Fine Arts Gallery, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria (2015) and Encounters & Dialogues, Artspring Gallery, Kansas (2008). Selected group exhibitions include Art Dubai, Gallery Harare in partnership with Kó, Dubai (2023); IN A POT OF HOT SOUP, Brunei Gallery, London (2022); Earth Matters: Land as Material and Metaphor in the Arts of Africa, Fowler Museum at UCLA, Los Angeles (2014) and Àsìkò: Evoking Personal Narratives and Collective History, Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos (2013). In 2022, Buhari exhibited and delivered the keynote speech at ArtoP: The Visual Articulation of Politics at the Brunei Gallery, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.