F or weeks, residents of Iyekogba in Benin City have seen a 15-metre-high tower rising up in the middle of their quiet, residential neighbourhood. On 8 November, the building, a domed bamboo pavilion, will finally be unveiled at the start of Nigeria’s inaugural Black Muse art festival .

Designed by the renowned Nigerian architect James Inedu-George, the pavilion is the centrepiece of the Black Muse sculpture park, a 3,500 sq metre landscaped site created to honour the city’s centuries-old artistic tradition and bring a new audience to contemporary art.

The park is the brainchild of the Nigerian-American artist Victor Ehikhamenor, who grew up in a nearby village, but regularly visited the city where his uncle was a well-known photographer. Ehikhamenor bought the land 15 years ago, with

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