In celebration of International Women’s Day (IWD) 2025, Orisun Gallery and El’mira Consults hosted the fifth edition of the El’Mira Fix, a Women’s Empowerment Series aimed at driving tangible solutions for advancing gender equity.
This year’s convention, which took place at Orisun Gallery, Abuja on Saturday, March 8, explored the theme: Accelerate Action on Women’s Economic Empowerment.
The event featured a plenary discussion on “Why Acceleration of Action for Women Matters” led by the convener and CEO of El’Mira Consults Miracle Ope Ogunbowale; a practical group exercise on calculating net worth led by Hassan Kayode Balogun; and a panel discussion on strategies and game-changing moves for improving the lives of women economically featuring sculptor Helen Nzete, MD of George Okoro Studios Rakiya Okoro, Economic Policy and Sustainable Development Expert Svenja Ossamann, and Project Manager Folakunle Aragbaye.
The evening culminated in an exhibition tour of pieces by artists Helen Nzete, Joy Iorvihi, Addis Okoli, and Lilian Pilaku.
The collection, curated under the global theme Accelerate Action on Women’s Economic Empowerment, not only highlights the diverse creative voices of these women artists but also positions art as a critical tool for advocacy, economic visibility, and social transformation. Each artwork in this exhibition engages with contemporary conversations around identity, community, agency, and resilience which underscores the layered experiences of women navigating personal, economic, and cultural landscapes.
The Curatorial Statement
In its official statement for the International Women’s Day event, the gallery through its manager Femi Coker expressed that “Women’s empowerment is not just an aspiration, it is a necessity for a just and equitable world. Despite progress, gender inequality persists in various forms, from wage gaps to limited access to education, healthcare and leadership roles. Art has long served as a powerful medium for activism, allowing voices to be heard, emotions to be felt, and change to be inspired. This art exhibition stands as a clarion call to accelerate action toward gender equality, using creativity to shed light on women’s struggles, triumphs, and unbreakable spirit.”
In a quick chat with Modaculture, the curator Rowland Goyit said that the collaboration with El’Mira is a strategic decision to put the gallery’s weight behind the series, which is in its fifth edition, to elevate it into an even bigger platform for women’s empowerment.
International Women’s Day is a special project for us. I think there’s no other way to celebrate this day than to show off the works of four outstanding female artists that have been practicing in Abuja. This show is not just about the usual art opening, it’s about giving these female artists an opportunity to be heard. It’s also a way to empoer them
Rowland Goyit, Curator, Orisun Gallery
For Ogunbowale, the partnership with the gallery is a pathway to achieving inclusion as she continues to advocate for women’s empowerment. She shared her vision of collaborating with male-dominated spaces to advance the cause.
“Today, I’m very excited to be collaborating with Orisun Gallery,” Ogunbowale tells Modaculture. “This is my second year collaborating with them in commemoration of International Women’s Day. It’s very important for us to keep amplifying the voices of female artists because interestingly, we may always think that art is a women-dominated field but really it’s not. It’s important for us to collaborate to foster more inclusion as artists, and not just any form but whatever it is that you decide you want to do because the truth about it is, anything that has to do with human rights [and] women’s empowerment is a matter of choice.”
Women should be given the choice, the opportunity to decide for themselves what they want to do, what they want to be and how they want to have their own life journey. No one should be making that decision for them. Women have the agency and should have the right to make those decisions for themselves.
Miracle Ope Ogunbowale, Convener
For years to come, she aspires to partner with more male-dominated spaces to ensure that she continues to amplify the voices of women, women artists, and women working in male-dominated sectors so they know that they are heard, supported and are the best at what they do.
The exhibiting artists also nodded to the conversations around women’s economic empowerment. Visual artist and sculptor Helen Nzete shared:
A lot of women don’t know what they carry. They don’t know what it means to actually be a woman. There’s a point in my life that I started to think that ‘Well done guys, well done guys, you guys really played us, women,’ because think about it, we bring life to the world, we go through a process, through a cycle of life and we are really strong so I don’t know why the general notion is that women should be made to feel less than they are.
Helen Nzete, Exhibiting Artist
She added that “conversations like these are really important because they educate a lot of [people], not just women but men as well to take women more seriously, and for women to take themselves seriously and to know that as a human being, as an adult, you can achieve anything that you want.”
Visit our social channels to catch videos from the event.
