Adéwálé Adénlé is a practicing visual artist, political cartoonist, educator, and PhD student in the Department of Arts Administration, Education and Policy. From 2012 to 2014, he served as a full time Visiting Assistant Professor in Painting/Drawing at Texas Tech University. He has also taught a formal art history and studio art classes in New Orleans public schools, Broward County public schools, and Miami University. Between 1986 and 2014, Wálé was a socio-political cartoonist/illustrator with various newspapers and magazines in Nigeria, Great Britain and the United States. His visceral and acerbic satire drew the ire of the notorious military regimes in Nigeria and propelled the publication of his first book, Mixed Feelings in 2000. ‘Wálé received the 2001 Reuters News Graphics fellowship/award which includes his participation in the Show-Don’t Tell workshop at the University of Navarra, Pamplona, Spain and working experience at the Reuters studio in London, UK. He was the recipient of the 2021 Robert L. and Phyllis J. Iles Award at the Ohio State University. Wálé has done restorative work on collections at the Southern University in New Orleans, served in the collection/exhibition dept. at the Louisiana State Museum, and for two years, he was a gallery assistant at Heistand Galleries—Miami University, Oxford-Ohio. His recent public commission includes “Congo Square” an 8ft. x 12ft. high relief cast bronze, commissioned by the city of New Orleans and installed at the Louis Armstrong Park-New Orleans, Louisiana.

Fun fact: Wálé has visited over 21 countries! He loves traveling, cooking, and listening to jazz music.

Research Interests

• Museum Administration and Education
• Arts Administration, Education and Cultural Policy
• Representation-Interpretation-Preservation of Indigenous African objects
• Technology-Innovation-Design in post-critical museum context
• Socially engaging art (Political Cartoons) in contemporary visual culture