An Art Space Where Lagos Lets Its Imagination Breathe
Nestled in the discreet crescents of Lagos’s Lekki Phase One, an understated art space pulses with quiet confidence, offering a haven where the city’s restless creativity can pause, experiment, and find its own rhythm. Okechukwu Uwaezuoke reports
Lekki Phase One—the upmarket Lagos enclave where sleek, contemporary façades flaunting newfound wealth coexist with the ever-faithful hum of generators like long-suffering roommates—has, since December 2021, been home to a purposeful, understated art space. Launched amid the fanfare of campaign blitzes, Cera Cerni’s Art Hub has claimed a quiet niche along Akintunde Adeyemi Street, a discreet crescent off Adewole Kuku Street. It blends into the area so seamlessly that one might almost forget the street was ever without it. Then, there’s a sense of patience here, a quiet confidence that the Lagos art scene, restless as it is, will gravitate to its doors in due time.
Its clientele is a sampling of Lagos in its dynamic flux: children from modest and affluent homes alike; Gen Z chroniclers filming their “Eureka!” moments with the same devotion they give to their feeds; suit-clad professionals sneaking in a moment of decompression; retirees rediscovering the simple pleasure of leisure; and visitors curious to test the city’s creative pulse for themselves. Presiding over it all is Sarah Adenike Sanni—muralist, aerosol virtuoso, and tireless advocate for walls as expressive as the city’s infamous yellow minibuses, popularly known as danfo. Her career reads like a Lagos plot twist only the curious weaving of fate could orchestrate. A University of Benin computer science graduate, she once traded the predictability of a lucrative nine-to-five for the Bohemian uncertainty of an artist’s life—a reminder that destiny sometimes lurks behind a course outline and a SIWES (Student Industrial Work Experience Scheme). Today, more than 400 of her murals adorn corporate corridors, private residences, and public façades across Lagos and beyond, yet commercial success has never dulled her appetite for something more intimate: a space where art could be taught, explored, and lived—not merely bought and sold.
For three years, the idea gestated, slowly evolving into what would become Cera Cerni’s Art Hub—a place that mirrors Lagos’s own chaotic-but-aspirational rhythm. Sanni had long observed a gap in the city’s art ecosystem: instruction was either too rarefied, too remote, or too dependent on insider networks. Amid the megacity’s relentless energy, the simple notion of accessible, everyday creative learning had been largely overlooked. The hub emerged to fill that gap—a necessary counterpoint, a breathing space where Lagos creativity, in all its restless improvisation, could express itself, experiment, and finally claim its stage.
Behind its walls, the hub wears three hats: skills centre, recreational arena, and exhibition space. The recreational painting sessions carry the easy camaraderie of a Sunday hangout—finger foods and drinks included—while the pottery corner offers a deeply tactile escape, the kind that gathers the mind into quiet concentration with almost meditative force. Structured classes span three proficiency levels, with business skills woven in—a practical nod to the Nigerian reality where the “starving artist” is a genuine hazard, not a romantic trope.
The rooms themselves—Igbokwenu Hall, the Owanbe Room, the Horsemen Room, Splash Studio, the Flower Room, and Potters’ Corner—are personalities in their own right, each shaping the mood and tempo of whatever unfolds within them. As for the hub’s offerings, Drum Roll sessions come with complimentary small chops and a drink for N10,000—a tidy way to drum up inspiration while nibbling away. Sip & Paint invites guests to flaunt their brush-wielding flair, with canvas sessions at N15,000 and shirt painting at N25,000. Pottery enthusiasts can opt for table moulding at N15,000 or take a spin on the potter’s wheel for N20,000, both served with refreshments and the hub’s trademark warm hospitality.
For those chasing a burst of expressive freedom, Spin ’n’ Spill hosts one to three participants at N35,000, while Hand-in-Hand—designed for duos synchronising creativity—runs at N40,000. The Art Cycle, N30,000 per person, keeps the rhythm going, and Shoot Ur Shot, supported by treats from The Side Cafe, offers medium-scale fun at N50,000 or large-scale mischief at N80,000. Finally, tufting—the chic art of rug-making—rounds out the menu, complete with a meal, small chops, and drinks for N90,000 for one or two participants.
A crew of roughly 20 staff members keeps the hub buzzing with the precision of a lean production house. Its seven-day debut leaned into Sanni’s technological roots, kicking off with VIRAL: Technology Enabling Art—a wink to the discreet co-conspirators of Instagram, WhatsApp, and Facebook that quietly amplified its presence across Lagos and beyond.
Beyond instruction and recreation, the hub courts established artists through its “Hot Easel” programme, offering studio time without the usual Lekki posh-neighbourhood pomp. The upper floor doubles as an exhibition space, while the rest accommodates intimate gatherings—from soft-launch soirées to bespoke events, each likely featuring at least one guest insisting they came “just to support.”
Thus, in a city that rarely pauses, Cera Cerni’s Art Hub provides a countercurrent: a space where creativity is no elitist indulgence but a public utility. Its guiding philosophy is straightforward—every Nigerian harbours a spark of ingenuity somewhere between survival instinct and daily improvisation, and that spark deserves space to stretch, play, and breathe.
And so the hub endures, a quietly defiant statement from Sanni that even in Lagos, where pressure has become the city’s theme song, art can still claim its space—calmly, persistently, and, delightfully, on its own terms.
