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By Chris Onuoha

To celebrate its 10-year anniversary month, The Wheatbaker, Lagos designed to mark it with an art fair tagged: “Sense of Self” an exhibition curated by SMO Contemporary Art, highlighting artist Olawunmi Banjo’s reflections on embracing and accepting humanity through art.

The exhibition that started on November 2, running till to January 15, 2022 is a collection of 20 paintings by Olawunmi Banjo with the exploration of three central themes: “accepting self, letting go of the past, and embracing present moments.” The artist explained that it is her ode to people’s life-long journey towards self-realisation and actualisation; clarity coming by aligning with the core of man’s inner being.

Banjo is a self-taught visual artist with a certificate in Creative Entrepreneurship from the Pan-Atlantic University in Lagos, Nigeria. Her hyper-realism style was inspired by exploring surrealistic landscapes which question constructs around physical reality. Banjo paints figures woven together by electrical wires, in acrobatic dance poses, leaping through time and space, propelled by a colorful surge of electric energy.

Speaking about the impact of her work on human subconscious mind, Jess Castellote, curator, writer, and Director of the Yemisi Shyllon Museum said, “Olawunmi’s works are pleasing to the eye, but below their deceptive compositional simplicity there are insights into the complexity of the individual human—especially women and children, and their relationship with others.”

“What we are invited to see in her works is what is invisible to the eyes, the interior struggles, pain, longings, joys and hopes of human existence,” explains Castellote.

“Olawunmi Banjo’s works speak to a deepened self-awareness, breaking through the intense pressure of technology, social norms, and the constant need for external validation,” remarked Nneoma Ilogu, the exhibition Curator and Manager at SMO Contemporary Art.

Banjo is an accomplished artist who has exhibited in both solo and group shows in her native Nigeria, as well as numerous international exhibitions and art fairs including; The Invisible Hands at Yemisi Shyllon Museum of Art (YSMA), Lagos, Nigeria 2021 -2022, Stasis by SMO Contemporary at Temple Muse, Lagos, Nigeria 2019, Re-Art Meets Africa , Ihlienworth, Germany 2018, Mind Revolution II at Praxis am Traveplat, Friedrichshain, Berlin, Germany 2015 – 2016, Mind Revolution at Nike Art Gallery, Lagos, Nigeria 2014. She was a nominee and finalist at the Global Art Awards (Painting category), Armani Hotel Burj Khalifa, Dubai, UAE 2017.

“Art gives voice to the voiceless, inspires, energizes and shapes minds and societies. Art is the medium through which I create, add value and convey messages to people. I have found surrealism and realism useful in depicting my ideas, enabling people who view my works to grasp the message embedded in each piece,” explained the artist.

“My most recent body of work are paintings of expressive wire figures, which is my way of describing a being and the countless energy that flows within each one of us. The various expressions of Art are a unifying force in bringing together people from diverse backgrounds to share a rare but meaningful experience in life.”

“After ten years of showcasing leading and emerging Nigerian talent, we are excited to celebrate our anniversary month and the start of the art season in Lagos with Olawunmi Banjo’s Sense of Self exhibition,” commented Mosun Ogunbanjo, Wheatbaker Director. “The exhibition is perfectly in sync with the Wheatbaker’s unique growth as an art-inspired hotel over the past decade.”