Blending West African tradition with contemporary sculptural dialogue, Temitayo Ogunbiyi’s You will wonder if we would have been friends installation is more than a tribute to Isamu Noguchi, it’s a rhythmic exchange. A conversation in metal, stone, sweat, and sparkle.

And the heart of it all? You will catalyze wishes of strangers, Ogunbiyi’s most personal, most participatory work to date. Found in Area 2, this cluster of copper alloy grinding stones, cast from family heirlooms in Nigeria, is a poetic homage to female labor. The pieces lie in gentle communion with Noguchi’s Practice Rocks in Placement (1982–83), forming a transcontinental duet in material memory. However, there lies a twist: embedded within Ogunbiyi’s stones are messages: fragments of dreams from the Queens community, gathered via prompts: “What is your practice? “”What do you practice? “”What would you practice if you could practice anything?”

I met the artist in the garden at Noguchi, where she motioned gently to one particular stone. “This one here. We have goodwill, solidarity, tolerance. And a mother,” she said.

“A mother?” I asked. “Yes,” she smiled. “I’m a parent. I have one [child] that’s two months, he’s upstairs. He’ll be out later. Then two others, seven and nine. The older ones have definitely been my guinea pigs. This exhibition, in many ways, is also about mothering and mentoring, and how those two always seem to speak to each other.”

Motherhood becomes crystal clear quite literally in Area 5, home to the glittering centerpiece You will find mothering at every turn (Sweet Mother) (2022–25). Constructed from Swarovski crystals and copper alloy stones, the sculpture spirals from floor to ceiling, like a shimmering lineage twisting up through time. Inspired by the iconic High Life song “Sweet Mother,” still played at West African weddings, the piece is both personal and universal: a tribute to maternal legacy.

“I wanted to honor the mothers I cannot know,” Ogunbiyi said. “Those who made it possible for me to be here.”

But beyond homage, there’s friction and fire: the grinding stone, as she explains, is not merely symbolic. It’s physical, visceral. “When a woman is using the stone, she’s speaking into it. It’s a release. It’s meditative and high intensity. It’s like pouring sweat from nowhere.”

And then there’s Area 6. Here, Ogunbiyi channels Noguchi’s legacy of “serious play” with You will pave paths of life with play (2025), a trio of stainless steel bars wrapped in manila rope. Visitors are encouraged to interact, invent, and most of all — to rest. Wooden benches invite reflection. It’s a space where laughter, exhaustion, and eye contact between strangers can coexist. Like Noguchi, Ogunbiyi is as interested in sculpting social space as she is physical forms. “Curiosity is the beginning of understanding,” she said. “And playscapes invite that. Children playing together? It gets adults to acknowledge each other, maybe speak.”

Based in Nigeria and working internationally, Ogunbiyi brings Lagos with her, not just as a city, but a spirit. “Lagos is possibility,” she said. “It challenges you to innovate. That’s where these play sculptures come from - the lack of play spaces for children in Lagos.”

The museum shop offers a charming surprise: a redesigned omorogun, or turning stick, a domestic tool reimagined in collaboration with artist Robert Seishin Rurup. “We first thought about a spice spoon,” Ogunbiyi recalled, “but I’ve never used one. I thought, this isn’t me. So we made something that really lives where I live.”

As for the ever-intimidating gallerygoer who feels art isn’t “for them”? Ogunbiyi offers this: “Nobody gets art. Not even the artist. Come with whatever you’ve got. There’s no right way to look at anything here.”

Her optimism is palpable. Even the grammar of her titles is future-facing: “you will.” It’s a phrase she’s adopted from Lagos conversation. Hopeful declarations sent into the world like spells. “You will have success. You will see beauty. You will find your way,” she said. “It’s my way of offering good energy.”

And where does she want to take that energy next? “Japan,” she said, without hesitation. “To be exhibited there that would be a dream.”

At the Noguchi Museum, her sculptures don’t demand to be understood. They invite you in.

To sit. To play. To rest. To speak. To listen. And if you do … you will catalyze the wishes of strangers.

Interview by Victoria Kulikova; captured with photography by Alex Mari.

A special thank you to the New York City Noguchi Museum for their hospitality in hosting this live artist interview amongst the combined works of Temitayo Ogunbiyi and founder Isamu Noguchi.

Visit the Noguchi Museum at 9-01 33rd Rd, Astoria, NY 11106 or discover the current and upcoming collections online at https://www.noguchi.org/.

Editor’s Note:

No Alibi Magazine would like to extend congratulate the Noguchi Museum for its newly emergent leadership appointments announced today.

The Museum has named Hitomi Iwasaki as its new Head Curator and Director of Curatorial Affairs, effective September 2. Iwasaki joins from the Queens Museum, where she has long been celebrated for her bold, cross-disciplinary curatorial vision and major exhibitions like Global Conceptualism and Caribbean: Crossroads of the World.

This appointment signals a further deepened commitment to global perspective, experimentation, and emerging voices at one of the city’s most revered institutions. No Alibi Magazine and our team applaud her assignment, and greatly look forward to her innovations and unique holistic perspectives as they will pertain to the Museum’s upcoming curatorial direction.

Iwasaki’s appointment comes alongside those of Mack Cole-Edelsack (formerly MoMA, Mercer Labs) as Director of Operations and Tia Williams (formerly Poets & Writers) as new Director of Finance. Together, this team brings a fresh energy and wide-ranging expertise across architecture, immersive experience, financial strategy, and contemporary curating to the esteemed Noguchi Museum. We are delighted to continue to partner with such a longstanding meaningful and historic pillar in the changing artistic landscape and look forward to their innovation.