Gani Fakeye, born 1941
Biography

Gani Fakeye, also known as Ganiyu Alawode Fakeye, is a Nigerian Yoruba wood sculptor from the Fakeye carving family. Aderonke Adesanya’s study records his birth in 1941 and his childhood in Ekan, in present-day Kwara State. He returned to Ila-Orangun in 1958 and trained with his elder brother, Lamidi Fakeye, in Ondo.

After periods of apprenticeship, he established an independent workshop in Ibadan in 1967. Adesanya also documents carved house posts commissioned for the Cooperative Bank in Ibadan. His career connects the family’s sculptural knowledge with the practical demands of an independent workshop and its patrons.

A first-hand account by John Buckels recalls visiting Gani’s workshop in Ibadan in 1971 and purchasing two iroko sculptures: a flute player and a woman holding a casket. The account preserves a direct encounter with the artist and identifies both the material and subjects of works selected there.

Our essay, Lamidi Fakeye and the Fakeye Family, places his work alongside that of Lamidi and Akin Fakeye.