délé jẹ́gẹ́dẹ́ (written as such, in Yoruba, “délé” means “come home,” while jẹ́gẹ́dẹ́ is defined as “of slender stem and inconsiderable height”) is an artist, painter, cartoonist, art historian, art critic, curator, and art administrator. He is also Professor Emeritus of Miami University, Oxford, Ohio.

Born in Ikere-Ekiti, Nigeria in, 1945, Dr. jẹ́gẹ́dẹ́ earned a first-class honors degree in studio art at the Ahmadu Bello University, Nigeria, in 1973. From 1979 to 1983, and under the tutelage of Professor Roy Sieber, he obtained his Masters and PhD degrees from Indiana University, Bloomington.

Beginning his professional career in Nigeria, Dr. jẹ́gẹ́dẹ́ first worked as an Art Editor and cartoonist for the Daily Times of Nigeria before becoming the Director of the Center for Cultural Studies at the University of Lagos, Akoka, Yaba, Nigeria. In 1993, Dr. jẹ́gẹ́dẹ́ moved to the US with his family, where he accepted a professor position at Indiana State University, Terre Haute.

Dr. jẹ́gẹ́dẹ́ was also a Fulbright Scholar at Spelman College, Atlanta Georgia, (1987-1988), president of the Society of Nigerian Artists (1989-1998), president of the Arts Council of the African Studies Association (ACASA) (1996-1998), and Senior Post-Doctoral Fellow at the National Museum of African Art at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC in 1995. He was awarded the Distinguished Africanist Award by the University of Texas at Austin. He currently serves as the Chairman of the board of trustees of the Cartoonists Association of Nigeria (CARTAN).

A full-time artist and scholar, Dr. jẹ́gẹ́dẹ́ describes his art as “a battleground for creative engagement” where it is employed at times as a personal purge and at others, as an activism tool and retaliation against the socio-political constructs and individuals that subjugate minorities and normalize disparities generated by inequalities.

His earliest cartoon, Kole Omole (Kole the Menace), was published weekly during his career at the Sunday Times of Nigeria and featured an underlying criticism of the Nigerian military regime through the character of a 5-year-old boy. Following this activism, his latest solo exhibition, Transitions, exposed at Terra Kulture in Lagos (July 14^th – 23^rd, 2016), is inspired by the socio-political climate of Nigeria, particularly the Boko Haram insurgency and the internal displacement ensued by it. The most striking pieces from this exhibition are BH (Boko Haram) 3, Internally Displaced Police (Rofo-Rofo Fight), Chibok-Agony of A Mother, BH (#BBOG), IDP Aisha, and BBOG Sheer Anguish. Balancing the violence of the previous pieces is the Celestial Aesthetics Series, a set of paintings dedicated as a spiritual homage to Ayo, his deceased son. Dr. jẹ́gẹ́dẹ́’s art is displayed in various public and private collections in Nigeria and the US.

Some of Dr, jẹ́gẹ́dẹ́’s most notable publications include Encyclopedia of African American Artists (2009), Onobrakpeya: Masks of the Flaming Arrows (2014), and Akinola Lakesan: Cartooning, Art and Nationalism at the Dawn of a New Nigeria (2020).