Prof. Freeborn Odiboh is a distinguished scholar, artist, educator and critic with over three decades of experience in the fields of visual arts and art history.

He began his academic journey at the University of Benin, where he earned a B.A. in Fine Arts (Sculpture) in 1985. He proceeded to the University of Ibadan, where he obtained an M.A. in African Studies (Visual Arts History) in 1987, and later acquired a Postgraduate Diploma in Education from the University of Benin in 1997. In 2005, he completed his Ph.D. in Art History at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

Currently a Professor of Art and Art History at the Department of Fine and Applied Arts, University of Benin, Edo State, Nigeria, Prof. Odiboh teaches Art History, supervises studio-based research and continues to actively produce and exhibit his own creative works. He also serves as a member of Curatorial Committee of the university’s departmental art gallery.

Prof. Odiboh’s scholarly and professional contributions have earned him several prestigious fellowships and awards. He is an alumnus of the Centre for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts (CASVA) at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., where he was awarded the Ailsa Mellon Bruce Visiting Senior Fellowship in 2019. His research on decolonizing the art history curriculum in African higher education institutions earned him the **African Humanities Program Postdoctoral Fellowship of the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) in 2010, and recognition among seven influential African Thinkers and Makers in 2019. He also received the Leventis Postdoctoral Fellowship at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, in 2006, and has been awarded the CAA/Getty Grant, the Africa Collaborative Research Grant at Stellenbosch University, South Africa, among others.

As a prolific writer, Prof. Odiboh has published over thirty scholarly works, including articles in national and international journals, two sole-authored books, and one co-edited book. His essays and reviews have also appeared in newspapers, magazines, and exhibition catalogues.

In addition to his academic writing, Prof. Odiboh has held several solo and group art exhibitions and in 2007–2008, he contributed as part of the curatorial team for the landmark international exhibition, Benin Kings and Rituals: Court Arts from Nigeria, curated by Barbara Plankensteiner in Vienna and Chicago.

Beyond academia, Prof. Odiboh is the Founder, President and Board Chairman of the African Art, Culture, Environment & Migration Foundation (AACEMFUND), a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing scholarship and sustainable development through art, cultural heritage, environmental advocacy and migration studies across Africa and its diaspora.

Through his combined roles as educator, researcher, artist, and cultural advocate, Prof. Freeborn Odiboh continues to shape discourses in art and art history while fostering both intellectual and creative growth within and beyond Africa.

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