This shimmering image, made of glass beads, shows three Nigerian leaders—Obafemi Awolowo, Nnamdi Azikiwe, and Ahmadu Bello— who traveled to England in 1960 to successfully negotiate for their country’s independence. 31 years later, the Yorùbá artist Jimoh Buraimoh commemorated the event with this artwork, which compared these leaders to another trio of famous travelers: the biblical Wise Men. Buraimoh is familiar with the significance and stunning visual effect of beadwork in classical Yorùbá arts and is interested in adapting this historical practice to a contemporary artistic language. What emerged was a technique he calls “bead painting.” In this work, Buraimoh works with beads of different sizes and styles, sometimes affixing them individually into intricate designs while at other times letting them cascade across the surface in random patterns of light and color.