Nike Art Gallery at a glance
Nike Art Gallery in Lekki Phase 1, Lagos, is one of the largest art galleries in West Africa and the personal life-work of Chief Nike Davies-Okundaye, one of Nigeria's most celebrated traditional textile and contemporary artists. The gallery occupies a striking five-floor building on Elegushi Road, with over 8,000 individual artworks spanning sculpture, painting, mixed media, textiles, photography, and traditional crafts from across Nigeria and the wider African continent.
Admission is free — a deliberate choice by Chief Nike to make African art accessible to ordinary Nigerians and visitors. The gallery is open daily and welcomes both casual browsers and serious collectors. It has hosted heads of state, celebrities, and international art-world visitors, but the day-to-day visitor is just as likely to be a young Nigerian art student or a curious tourist.
Chief Nike Okundaye and the gallery's story
Chief Nike Davies-Okundaye is a master of adire (Yoruba indigo tie-dye) and a leading figure in Nigeria's contemporary art movement. Born in Ogidi-Ijumu in Kogi State, she began her artistic career in the 1970s and has built up a network of cultural centres across Nigeria — in Osogbo, Abuja, Ogidi-Ijumu, and the flagship Lagos gallery — that combine retail, exhibition, training, and community development.
The Lagos gallery opened in its current location in 2009 after several earlier iterations. Chief Nike's mission has been to expand the reach of African art, train young artists (particularly women), and preserve traditional techniques like adire and gele tying that risk being lost. The gallery's training centres have produced hundreds of working artists.
What you'll see on each floor
- Ground floor — large sculptures, mixed-media installations, and the entrance hall. Major pieces by established Nigerian masters and emerging artists.
- Second floor — paintings from across Nigeria, with rotating thematic clusters. Works by artists from the Osogbo school, Nsukka school, and contemporary Lagos scene.
- Third floor — textile arts including adire, batik, aso-oke, and embroidered textiles. Chief Nike's own work is prominently featured.
- Fourth floor — sculptures and ceramic art. Bronzes, woodcarvings, and contemporary terracotta.
- Fifth floor — additional sculpture and the viewing terrace, with views over Lekki Phase 1.
The presentation is dense — works are hung close together, layered, and stacked, in a style that prioritises quantity and access over museum-style spacing. This is intentional: the gallery is a working collection rather than a curated museum.
Workshops, adire-making, and cultural events
Nike Gallery runs regular workshops — adire dyeing, batik-making, gele (head-tie) classes, and occasional photography and painting masterclasses. Adire workshops are particularly popular with international visitors and run on weekends. Children's art programmes operate during school holidays.
Cultural events — book launches, artist talks, traditional music performances, and dance shows — happen periodically. Chief Nike herself is often present at major events and is famously generous with her time.
Opening hours and admission
The gallery typically opens daily from 9:00 AM to 7:00 PM. Admission is free. Workshops and special programmes carry separate fees. Photography is allowed throughout for personal use; commercial photography requires advance permission.
How to get there
Nike Gallery sits at 2 Elegushi Road, Lekki Phase 1. From Victoria Island, cross the Lekki–Ikoyi Link Bridge onto Admiralty Way, turn into Elegushi Road; the gallery's white-and-yellow building is impossible to miss. Drive time from VI is 15–25 minutes off-peak. Ride-hail door-to-door costs around ₦1,500–₦3,500. Public transport: Danfo on the Lekki–Epe Expressway to the First Roundabout, then a Keke into Elegushi Road. Plan with the trip planner.
Buying art at Nike Gallery
Everything on display is for sale. Prices range from approximately ₦5,000–₦20,000 for smaller prints and craft items up to several million Naira for major sculptures and signed originals by senior artists. Most works are priced between these extremes. Gallery staff can walk visitors through the artists' biographies and the rationale for current pricing.
Negotiation is acceptable for larger purchases, particularly for visitors building a serious collection. International shipping can be arranged. Authentication certificates accompany original work.
Practical tips and what to expect
- Allow 1–2 hours minimum. Rushing through misses most of what the collection offers.
- Comfortable shoes. Five floors, multiple staircases — sneakers help.
- Bring water. The building has no central air-conditioning; the upper floors can be warm.
- Cash and bank transfer preferred for purchases. Card may be available at the main desk.
- Ask staff for context. The gallery is rich with stories; staff are knowledgeable and friendly.
- Try the workshops. An adire workshop is one of the most memorable Lagos cultural experiences for visitors.
- Visit nearby venues. Combine with Ceracerni ArtHub, Terra Kulture, or the Lekki Arts & Crafts Market for a fuller Lagos art day.
Wider travel context
Nike Art Gallery is best understood not as a standalone destination but as one node within the wider Lekki Phase 1 fabric of Eti-Osa, Lagos. Visits to landmark sites in this part of the country reward the traveller who pairs the headline attraction with the surrounding daily life — the markets, the streets, the small restaurants, the religious centres, the public transport hubs that together make up the district. A first-visit traveller will often find that the most memorable parts of the day are the off-script encounters in the surrounding streets rather than the landmark itself.
Nearby points indexed on Locate.ng that pair well with a visit to Nike Art Gallery: Ceracerni ArtHub, Lekki Arts & Crafts Market, Lekki–Ikoyi Link Bridge, The Palms Shopping Mall. Each of these has its own profile page with directions, photographs, and the practical context for a visit. Combining two or three in a single day produces a more substantial experience than focusing on a single stop.
For commuters and longer-stay visitors, the surrounding Lekki Phase 1 area also functions as a working neighbourhood with the full Nigerian urban rhythm — markets, schools, religious services, public transport, residential blocks. The articles for the parent Lekki Phase 1 district, the Eti-Osa LGA, and Lagos State together describe the broader context in which Nike Art Gallery operates. For step-by-step transport options, the trip planner handles BRT, ride-hail, and informal-mode routing from your origin.