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Chief Afi Ekong, a doyenne of modern Nigerian art, has followed a unique career path. Born in Calabar, she studied fashion design and painting in London during several postings there of her husband, Abdul Azizi Atta. Back in Nigeria Afi Ekong moved in elite social and political circles and quickly achieved acclaim as the first woman to hold a solo art exhibition in Lagos (1958). She was active in promoting arts councils in Nigeria and ran the Bronze Gallery in several venues in Lagos. From the 1950s to the present, she has continued privately to paint along with her public charitable activities. Now widowed and retired in her native Calabar with five chieftaincy titles to her credit, Afi Ekong has opened a new Bronze Gallery in Fiekong Estate.

In this catalog more than sixty paintings and drawings are reproduced spanning five decades of her corpus. Her choice of subject matter tends toward landscapes, flowers (she loves flowers), and scenes of daily life, depicting women in particular. A short (unsigned) biographical essay and excerpts from reviews and critiques of her work comprise the text.