At 91, a Nigerian artist who reimagined the crucifixion gets a Smithsonian show

Bruce Onobrakpeya’s home and studio, partly shielded by trees, sits discreetly along a frenetic side street in Mushin — a working class neighborhood of Lagos, dense with small manufacturing businesses, artisanal workshops and old detached houses.

But on a generous plot, his three-story, concrete modernist home where he’s lived since 1976 is a quiet wonder. Towering sculptures with bronze heads resting on bodies assembled from vehicle parts, loom over the gate. They depict a row of traditional monarchs, dressed with coral beads and holding copper staffs.