CANCELED: Yinka Ilori: In Conversation with Andy Campbell

Wednesday Feb. 26, 2025 , 5 to 6:30 p.m.
Multi-disciplinary artist and designer Yinka Ilori will discuss his work with the art historian, curator and critic Andy Campbell.
Colorful hallway with tiled floors, walls, and tree-like pillars in bright geometric patterns. Walls feature yellow circular accents, and yellow beanbag chairs sit along the side. Natural light streams in from large windows.

As part of the Interior Design Program's annual Emily Summers Craft & Artisanship in Interior Design visiting artist event, Yinka Ilori and Andy Campell will join us for an in-depth conversation on the role of making and meaning in contemporary practice.


About Yinka llori

Yinka Ilori is a multi-disciplinary artist and designer whose bold visual language draws on his British-Nigerian heritage to convey new narratives through contemporary design. Drawing on Nigerian parables and verbal traditions, Ilori touches on a multitude of themes that resonate with a global audience. His work is underpinned by the belief that art and design should be accessible to all. Humorous, provocative and playful, his projects demonstrate how design can bring together communities and have a positive impact on society, evoking a sense of joy and optimism. Often using the city as his canvas, he reimagines spaces to encourage a sense of community and invites audiences to engage and participate in his work and its surroundings. Holding a bachelor of art in Furniture and Product Design from London Metropolitan University, Ilori’s work has been showcased globally through solo and group exhibitions, public commissions and set and exhibition design. Ilori holds an honorary doctorate from the University for the Creative Arts in London.  

About Andy Campbell

Andy Campbell is associate professor of critical studies and director of the graduate program in Curatorial Practices and the Public Sphere at the University of Southern California. He is an art historian, critic and curator whose work foregrounds LGBTQ communities and their archives as wellsprings for histories of art and design. He is the author of Bound Together: Leather, Sex, Archives, and Contemporary Art (Manchester University Press, 2020) and Queer X Design: 50 Years of Signs, Symbols, Banners, Logos, and Graphic Art of LGBTQ (Black Dog and Leventhal, 2019), as well as co-editor of the catalog Queer Communion: Ron Athey (Intellect 2020), named one of the “Best Art Books of 2020” by The New York Times His criticism and academic writing can be found in ArtforumThe Invisible ArchiveX-TRAGLQDressAperture, and other venues.

 

A person in a colorful tie-dye shirt stands in front of a vibrant, multicolored pavilion with slatted walls and pointed roof edges, surrounded by grass and trees on a sunny day.
Colour Palace, East Dulwich. Photographed by Andy Stagg.

Above: Domus, photographed by Robin Gautier

A man with a beard wearing a light-colored cap, black t-shirt with b.E printed on it, a beaded necklace, and visible arm tattoos stands against a plain light background.
Yinka Ilori
Aerial view of Piccadilly Circus in London with red double-decker buses, empty streets, and large digital billboards displaying bright yellow ads, including one for Yinka Ilori. The Eros fountain is surrounded by illuminated text.
Art of London Header.
Architectural rendering of a vibrant pavilion with a colorful canopy of red, yellow, and orange translucent discs, supported by thin, multicolored poles on a pink tiled floor; a bench and table sit at the center.
Pavilion Reveal Estrel Hotel, photographed by Linus Muellerschoen.
A modern building with a curved roof sits behind a colorful outdoor sculpture made of stacked yellow spheres on a grassy lawn with trees and a fountain, under a partly cloudy sky.
Reflection in Numbers, photographed by Hannes Wiedemann.