Meet Nigeria's Afromysterics Artist Laolu Senbanjo

Laolu Senbanjo

I can't say that I am hopelessly in love with culture. We have got some interesting cultures but hmmmmm, no because those who are in loveeeeee; it goes real deep for them and I admire people who are in love with culture, especially those creatives who find a way to bring to reality culturally grounded innovative ideas. I find it quite fascinating and I love telling their stories, meeting them and getting to know their distinctive characters. I love how the story comes together at the end and try to enjoy the process. Which is why I am so much consumed by what I do and field work is a plus for me. Unfortunately I could not meet this culture lover and maestro of a man, Laolu Senbanjo when he came into Nigeria recently.

Now how did it all come together? Facebook.

For the first time I was mighty glad I went on Facebook two days before the team interviewed the Nigerian afromysterics artist Laolu Senbanjo. Scrolling though posts can be quite a task. Same with Instagram. You could get drawn in and it gets boring for me after some minutes. But that day the first post I came across; an update by a friend caught my eye. He expressed his delight at having reconnected with his friend after 9 years. It was accompanied by a really short video clip. You guessed right! Same Laolu. My goodness! I think the afrocentric stars were aligned that day. Lol. I immediately reached out to my friend and he said Laolu had sneaked into the country and had left. I took my disappointed self back to social media. Only to get a call the following morning during a hectic period that the art genius/musician/songwriter/former human rights lawyer was still in town. He had delayed his flight by two days. Halleluyah!

But before Facebook.
July 2016 was when the idea dropped in my mind after seeing stories online about him. I had reached out to his PR person and was told the New York based artist will not be in Nigeria till later that year. I did not chase the story after then. Don't recall why because I like to keep tabs.

2018 sure started with this surprise as Laolu granted us audience two days after coming across the Facebook post. He was to leave town same day we did the interview. Fortunately my colleagues as always were ever ready.
The afromysterics artist, Laolu Senbanjo has broken into pop culture with his African inspired art which he defines as the mystery of the African thought pattern. The Nigerian artist has evolved over the years and made name as one of the artists to break into the international scene with his unique style of using charcoal and working with clothes, sneakers and human bodies. In 2016, Laolu was selected by Nike, the American sportswear company to create art inspired sneakers. The visual artist also brought his Yoruba influenced markings to Beyonce’s Lemonade video.

While watching his interview, he struck me as quite a deep person who is in touch with his culture and mythology. For him, everything is his canvas. He can paint on anything.

This is my first post of the year. Happy New Year all. I pray 2018 brings you nothing short of the best. Cheers.

Pictures courtesy: Angela Ukomadu