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Collins Obijiaku’s paintings will be featured in “Wherever You Are, Remember Me,” a solo exhibition at Roberts Projects in Los Angeles from Nov. 7 through Dec. 19, 2026. The portraits and still lifes draw on memories, community, and the artist’s experience of moving from Nigeria’s Kaduna region to Chicago.
Artist Collins Obijiaku will present a solo exhibition, “Wherever You Are, Remember Me,” at Roberts Projects in Los Angeles from Nov. 7 through Dec. 19, 2026. The show will include oil portraits and still lifes shaped by memory, community, and Obijiaku’s move from Nigeria’s Kaduna region to Chicago.
The exhibition will bring together a selection of paintings, including “Rengaji” and “Portrait of Benedicta Rufus,” alongside a suite of still lifes, according to the source report. The works use oil, often with charcoal, and combine carefully drawn linear details with broad, color-blocked backgrounds. In many portraits, the subjects look directly toward the viewer.
Obijiaku’s subjects are inspired by people in his community. The paintings range from earthy to jewel-toned colors and include subtle references to architecture, nature, and art historical imagery. The source material describes the resulting settings as dreamlike, with the figures and places seeming to surface through recollection rather than belonging to one specific time.
The 2026 painting “Rengaji” draws on Renaissance Christian painting, including the work of Fra Angelico, while also recalling Obijiaku’s childhood memories of royal processions in Nigeria. The source identifies crowds gathering to watch the king as part of the memory behind the work. “Portrait of Benedicta Rufus,” also dated 2026, is an oil-and-charcoal painting on canvas.
How Memory Shapes the Portraits
The exhibition links intimate portraits to the ways people retain relationships and places across distance. Obijiaku recently moved from Kaduna, Nigeria, to Chicago, and the source report says he has been grappling with the emotional resonance of leaving one place and adjusting to another. His paintings make that experience part of the work without treating the portraits as simple records of a single location.
The show’s subject matter may resonate with viewers familiar with how ordinary sensory cues call up personal histories. The report describes smells and sounds as prompts for memories of holidays, relatives, and particular times or places. It also points to the strange familiarity that can arise when a stranger recalls someone far away. These are interpretive themes, rather than claims that every painting represents a specific memory.
For the Los Angeles gallery, the exhibition places portraits of community members beside still lifes, bringing people and objects into a shared exploration of recollection. The works’ references to both Nigerian childhood memories and European art history also connect personal experience with broader visual traditions.
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From Kaduna Memories to Chicago
Obijiaku was raised in Nigeria’s Kaduna region and has recently relocated to Chicago. The source report presents that move as an important point in his recent experience, particularly his feelings of distance and the challenge of becoming accustomed to a new place. It does not give a date for the move or describe the circumstances behind it.
Roberts Projects’ statement, quoted in the source report, says the paintings’ settings have an intimate, dreamlike quality when seen through a sentimental lens, “as though recalling a presence from memory.” The gallery’s description offers its reading of the work; it is not a direct statement from Obijiaku. The report also notes that “Rengaji” combines a reference to Renaissance religious painting with a memory of public royal processions from his childhood.
Several other works named in the report include “Yene I” (2023), “In Good Company” (2026), “SLO” (2023), “Portrait of Silvanus” (2026), “Aunt Vivian and Coach” (2022), and “Untitled (Woman I)” (2021). The report does not specify that all of these works will be included in the Los Angeles exhibition.
Exhibition Details Still Unreported
The available report confirms the exhibition title, venue, and scheduled dates, but does not give details such as an opening-event schedule, admission arrangements, or the full list of works on view. It names “Rengaji” and “Portrait of Benedicta Rufus” as works that will be included, but does not establish that every other painting discussed or pictured will appear in the show.
The source also offers no direct interview with Obijiaku about the move to Chicago or the personal histories behind individual portraits. The gallery’s description and the report’s account of the paintings provide context, but specific meanings attached to each subject remain unconfirmed.
Los Angeles Show Opens Nov. 7
“Wherever You Are, Remember Me” is scheduled to open at Roberts Projects on Nov. 7, 2026, and continue through Dec. 19. The next confirmed development is the exhibition’s opening; further information about the full checklist, events, and visitor arrangements was not included in the source report.
Readers can look to Roberts Projects for gallery updates and to Obijiaku’s Instagram for more of his work, as directed by the source report. Any additional show details should be treated as unconfirmed until the gallery or artist publishes them.
Key Questions
When and where is Collins Obijiaku’s exhibition?
“Wherever You Are, Remember Me” is scheduled to run at Roberts Projects in Los Angeles from Nov. 7 through Dec. 19, 2026.
What works are confirmed for the exhibition?
The source report says “Rengaji” and “Portrait of Benedicta Rufus” will be included, alongside a suite of still lifes. It does not provide a complete checklist.
What themes inform Obijiaku’s paintings?
The report connects the works to memory, community, and distance, including Obijiaku’s recent move from Nigeria’s Kaduna region to Chicago. It also describes references to architecture, nature, and art history.
What inspired the painting “Rengaji”?
According to the source report, “Rengaji” references Renaissance Christian painting, including Fra Angelico, and Obijiaku’s childhood memories of crowds gathering for royal processions in Nigeria.
Source: thisiscolossal.com
