Fadekemi Ogunsanya

Fadekemi Ogunsanya (b.1995) is a multi-disciplinary Nigerian artist based between Lagos and London. She paints cathartic emotional landscapes, scenes concerned with the ineffable questions of love, joy, suffering, and loss. Having grown up within a patriarchal Yoruba family structure, Ogunsanya exposes another side to this world. Her work carries a complex awareness of womanhood and the covert power of female alliances within such traditional structures. Infused with mythological references - indigo, a colour steeped in cosmic significance within Yoruba culture, animates this world. Ogunsanya’s subjects exude a quiet confidence and exist somewhere between portraits and imagination, a collection of faces and spirits intertwined, sharing profound bonds of mutual reinforcement. 

Ogunsanya is intrigued by how her work finds its place within a space and how her paintings are viewed as unique objects. Each artwork is housed in a hand-painted frame, a process enriched by her architectural background. Ogunsanya’s design expertise allows her to explore unconventional avenues of presentation, which depart from the traditional white cube gallery displays. Ogunsanya’s paintings extend beyond the two dimensional and into objects in and of themselves: she designs and creates hand-painted, laser-cut, wooden frames that hold each painting and allows them to straddle the space between image and object.

Ogunsanya received an MA in Architecture from the ArchitecturalAssociation in London (2020).

Solo exhibitions include ‘Elastic Visions’, Efie Gallery, Dubai (2024); ‘Easy Remedies For A Tired Heart’, FF-Projects, London (2023); ‘Sweet Joy, Sweet Suffering’, Open Door Gallery, Lagos (2021).Group shows include ‘Ghosts of Empires’, Ben Brown Fine Arts, Hong Kong (2022); ‘Ghosts of Empires II’, Ben Brown Fine Arts, London (2022); ‘Works on Paper’, STEVENSON, Cape Town (2022).