Through her use of layered paint, Bono conjures a sense of cosmic power, imagining alternate realms where magic exists. These otherworldly spaces reveal the connection between the human experience and the divine. She illustrates the mythology of deities rooted in African religions and spiritualities, while also highlighting the experiences of Black women through her unique perspective. In works like ‘Osun’ and ‘’, hybridised bodies formed through multi-medium collage, transcending the viewer into the metaphysical plane. Akin to Renaissance altar triptychs, her silhouette figures serve as a vessel to explore infinite future possibilities.
... In ‘Don’t You Want To Live Before You Die?’, Endeley visualises the flux of human emotion. Within her signature, vivid oeuvre, she captures a vulnerable discussion around mental health. In particular, ‘Don’t You Want To Live Before You Die? VI’, shows her shifted relationship with a bathtub. No longer the drowning space presented in composition ‘IV’, but a vessel of care that urges continuation. Her hair is protected and adorned within a shower cap, indicating that she would like ascend from the water. Through self-portraiture, her contemplation of life is laid bare.
The ordinary and nostalgia are centrefold in Damilola Onosowobo’s practice. Her work discusses everyday Nigerianness using motifs of memory and time. This new body of work presents a painterly dreamscape that poses questions rather than answers. In ‘We’re Okay’, Onosowobo honours the first funeral she attended. Grief is cast as a site of emotional multiplicity; sadness accounts for the joy of life. This painting serves as cross-generational dialogue, juvenile confusion meets the stoic adult. All come together to celebrate those that have passed.
Together, these works form a stilling honesty that requires introspection. The emboldened tenderises the untouched as all is embraced.
