PDF FEATURES
by: Elsa Lassoux
MDINA // MEDINA SAGE
(b. Corpus Christi, Texas, USA)
Medina is a multidisciplinary artist, writer, and expressive arts mentor. She approaches art as an active vehicle for personal transformation and collective renewal. By integrating sacred symbolism, nature, and mythological fiction, her work bridges ancient traditions with contemporary social imagination. Having studied Vedic and West African ritual lineages, she infuses her artistic practice and mentorship with a deep focus on embodiment, intuition, and ancestral memory.
She is a graduate of the Spéos Photographic Institute in Paris and spent nine formative years in Lagos, Nigeria, as an artist and curator for the African Artists’ Foundation and LagosPhoto Festival. This pivotal period fostered a collaborative, culturally embedded approach that honors West African visual traditions. Today, this global lens continues to shape her creative ecosystems, bridging sacred lineages with contemporary artistic expression.
Medina received First Prize in the Magnum Photography Award 2017.
Exhibition History | Bozar Expo, Untitled Miami, LagosPhoto Festival and Investec Cape Town Art Fair, with features in Vogue, Smithsonian Magazine, and National Geographic.
PERMANENT COLLECTIONS
Fitchburg Art Museum
General Mills Private Art Collection
Fondation Zinsou, Benin
Angeline Scherf (curator Louis Vuitton Foundation, 2020)
SOLO EXHIBITION
2019 INVESTEC Cape Town Art Fair, Art Twenty One Gallery, solo ft. Chroma: An Ode to J.D. Ojeikere (Chroma)
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2026 Fitchburg Art Museum: centennial exhibition Kaleidoscope, Feb. 21
2025 Fela Anikulapo-Kuti: Afrobeat Rebellion, Lagos, Nigeria Oct 12 ft. Chroma
Pensiericorrenti Festival, Puglia, in Valle d’Itria, ft. Enshroud
Inverted Safari, Manege, St Petersburg Russia, ft. Enshroud
2022 University of Houston, College of Arch & Design, ft. Chroma & Chromatin
2021 Guernsey Photography Festival, ft. Enshroud
2020 Fund for Global Human Rights, Face to Face, London, ft. Enshroud
Floor One 9, Art Twenty One Gallery, Lagos, Nigeria ft. Chroma
2019 Kunstgewerbemuseum (Museum of Decorative Arts), Berlin, ft unVeiled & Queering Spaces
Art Summit Nigeria, ft. unVeiled
2018 MoAD (Museum of the African Diaspora - A Smithsonian Affiliate) Digitalia San Francisco, ft. Chromatin
Art Miami Catherine Edelman Gallery, ft. Chroma
IAF Basel Basel Switzerland, ft. Chroma
Catherine Edelman Gallery, How do you see me now? Chicago, ft. Chroma
Voies Off Festival, Les Rencontres d’Arles, ft. Chroma
Les Balades, Photographiques De Daoulas, France. Medina Dugger: Chroma (Ville de Daoulas) & J.D. Okhai Ojeikere: Hairstyles
(Abbaye de Daoulas)
2017 LagosPhoto Festival, ft video Chromatin
Odessa/Batumi Photo Days Festival ft. Chroma
2016 Bozar Expo, Dey Your Lane, Brussels, Belgium, ft. Funhouse
2012 LagosPhoto Festival, ft. Seven Days in the Life of Amos
2011 African Artists' Foundation ‘Female Artists', ft. Memory
Spéos, Galerie Arlatino, Arles France, ft. Boxed
PUBLICATIONS
2023
MUDEC (publication by Museum of Cultures of Milan) United Rainbow. Bartering Hunger with Hope (featured article & text)
2021
The National Geographic Celebrating the proud culture behind Nigerian Hairstyles, Print edition, July.
2020
The Guardian UK ft. Enshroud from Face to Face exhibition, Sept.
Europe Now Journal, Council for European Studies (CES), Enshroud, Jan.
2019
The Guardian UK, A celebration of Muslim women in Lagos – in pictures, Nov.
Times Literary Supplement (cover image), May.
ze.tt A tribute to the gorgeous hairstyles of Nigerian women, May.
Design Indaba, The African crown reimagined.
Smithsonian Magazine In Nigeria, the Veil Is a Fashion Statement, Artist Medina Dugger finds joy in a colorful yet complicated symbol of faith, March.
Google Arts & Culture ft. Chromatin.
The Art Momentum Medina Dugger: A kaleidoscope of almost audible colours, March.
2018
Something We Africans Got, Fractales et pratiques culturelles en Afrique.
BBC News, Chicago: Three artists challenging African-American stereotypes.
Chicago Tribune, Exhibition stares down portrayals of blackness in art history, corporate environments, Sept.
This is Colossal Nigerian Hair Culture Documented in Rainbow-Hued Portraits by Medina Dugger, Aug.
Art Africa ft Chromatin (cover) Issue 11, March.
2017
Vogue This Fashion-Forward Musician Is Nigeria’s Coolest Front Row Star, Nov.
Marie Claire South Africa, ft. Chroma, July.
Dazed, Beautiful photos bring ancient hair traditions to the future, July.
CNN Africa, June.
Collectible Dry Lagos is not a sleepy city, everyone here has somewhere to be pronto
2014
The New York Times Robert Sherrill, Author Who Skewered Right and Left, Dies at 89, Aug.
CURATORIAL
2018-2020 Co-Founder Nigerian-based art print company artoja.org
2017-Present Creative Consultant/Contributing Editor Moon Man Magazine for Moon Man Studios, UK
2015-Present Nominator for Prix Pictet, International Award for Photography
2011-2015 Curator, African Artists' Foundation + LagosPhoto festival, Lagos, Nigeria
EDUCATION
2025
Restorative Hypnotherapy with Spiritual Hypnotherapist Leo Max
2024
Pain Reprocessing Therapy, Neuroplasticity Practitioner Training
The Art Students League of New York
2023 Creative Wellness Service Initiative (CWSI) with the International Expressive Arts Therapy Association (IEATA)
2022 Certified 6th generation Usui Tibetan & Incan Q'ero Shamanic Reiki Master
2010 Spéos Photographic Institute, Paris France
2011 Internship with Philippe Bachelier + Sebastião Salgado, Paris France
2006 California State University Fresno, Bachelor of Science in Nursing. Employed Neonatal ICU Nurse at Valley Children's Hospital 2006-2010
