Abstract
<jats:p>This article examines upcycling as an artistic methodology through a comparative analysis of two contemporary Nigerian artists. Chidinma Solomon, a Lagos-based practitioner who transforms textile waste (Ankara offcuts, thrifted garments, tailors’ scraps) into large-scale figurative portraits that mobilize fabric as collective memory. Dr. Adeola Balogun, sculptor who constructs biomorphic “Rare Species” fish sculptures from discarded electronic panels, automobile components, coins, tin lids, and compact discs. Drawing on primary interviews (Lagos, November–December 2025) and systematic visual analysis of eight artworks through a five-dimension protocol, the paper argues that both artists enact a form of material epistemology that simultaneously engages aesthetic innovation, ecological critique, cultural memory, and pedagogical practice. Anchored in Tim Ingold’s materiality studies and Bill Brown’s “thing theory,” the analysis situates these practices within Arte Povera’s legacies and African upcycling aesthetics, proposing the concept of “generative waste” to describe how both artists transform discarded matter into the primary condition of artistic production.</jats:p>