Inside the Waterfall, 12 Bones Birthed a Flower: Yussef Agbo-Ola

Baró Galeria is pleased to present Inside the Waterfall, 12 Bones Birthed a Flower by Yussef Agbo-Ola (b. 1990, Virginia, USA), marking the artist’s debut solo exhibition in Paris and with the gallery. Conceived specifically for Baró Paris, the exhibition brings together a new body of site-responsive works spanning sculpture, textiles, installation, and architecture.

Internationally recognised for his interdisciplinary practice at the intersection of art, architecture, ecology, and spirituality, Agbo-Ola has participated in major institutional exhibitions and biennials including the Venice Architecture Biennale, the Sharjah Architecture Triennial, the Lagos Biennial, the Wuhan Biennale, and the Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale. His work has also been presented at institutions such as Serpentine Gallery, Palais de Tokyo, Van Abbemuseum, Museum Folkwang, Tai Kwun Contemporary, and Schering Stiftung.

Developed in dialogue with the historic architecture and circulation of Passage Véro-Dodat, Inside the Waterfall, 12 Bones Birthed a Flower unfolds as an immersive spatial environment in which sculpture, material, sound, and ritual operate as interconnected elements. Drawing from Yoruba and Cherokee cosmologies, Agbo-Ola constructs spatial environments shaped by material interaction, ritual references, and sensory perception. The exhibition draws on cosmological references in which water, bones, and flowers emerge as elements of transition and renewal, articulating ancestral, ecological, and spiritual dimensions. Throughout the presentation, textiles, cast metals, ceramics, stones, and organic matter are treated as active materials marked by transformation and use. Altar-like structures appear throughout the exhibition, operating as ritual structures mediating spatial and symbolic relationships.

Agbo-Ola’s practice incorporates references to ritual architecture, biomimicry, and African fractal geometries, bringing these into dialogue with environmental research through material and spatial strategies. Through newly commissioned and site-specific works, the exhibition develops as a spatial environment where sculpture, material, and architecture operate through processes of circulation, transformation, and exchange.