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Nigerian artist, the Junkman from Africa, is building a replica of his Junkyard Museum of Awkward Things in Wales.

The museum, the original of which is in Lekki, Lagos, is being constructed at the Oriel Mostyn Gallery in Llandudno, where the artist began a three-month residency programme in May.

Also known as Dilomprizulike, the Junkman has been named by British newspaper, The Independent, as one of Africa’s 50 greatest cultural figures. This is the first time the Junkyard Museum will be seen outside Nigeria.

Junkman fashions his pieces from discarded materials – ‘junk’ in his usual parlance – and his museum is a “kind of artistic hospital”, where worthless objects are resuscitated and given a second life as art. The artist has described the Junkyard as an effort at “presenting the un-presentable; valuing the worthless; appreciating the depreciated; taking the outcasts inside; embracing the untouchable.”

In addition to its commentary on ecological issues, the museum is also a reflection on the disposable culture in a consumer society.

The construction of the Junkyard is the gallery’s International Project of the Year, and is sponsored by the Henry Moore Institute and the Arts Council of Wales.

Junkman said he will be using “local Welsh junk to cook their soup for them.” Using materials which he will source locally in the Welsh environment, the artist is working with educational groups and members of the public to bring his unique museum to life in Llandudno. Work is progressing on the museum which, after its completion, will go on display until October 16.