Abisola Kuburat Gbadamosi (AKG)

Abisola Kuburat Gbadamosi is a visual artist born in 1995 in Nigeria. Originally from Ibadan, Oyo state. She grew up spending the majority of her formative years between Lagos and London. Gbadamosi's work focuses on the interplay between light and color, spirituality, everyday life and loss. Having experienced the loss of both her parents at a relatively young age she turned to art as a form of therapy, a way of processing her innermost thoughts and working through conflicting emotions which she struggled to vocalize.

The use of watercolour gives her works a distinct and noticeable style which she uses to create ethereal portraits, successfully translating her different states of consciousness. She believes in the spirituality of life and the ultimate divine source beyond the physical realm. She believes that Heaven can be very much experienced on Earth and is inquisitive in the different realms that our consciousness can take us. For Gbadamosi, her art changes as her mind moves from one state of consciousness to the next. She understands how the mind is one of the most powerful tools we inhabit as human beings, and how it has the power to determine the entire trajectory of our lives.

Gbadamosi has always attempted to find the balance between her traditional African culture and the concept of being her true authentic self. Her work is tied up in the present but also her past and future experiences. She operates on multiple frequencies, at first her work came out of a necessity to express her pain but she soon came to the realization that her art was merely the tool used to direct her toward her truth (her higher self) and she aims that individuals that experience her work are challenged to look inwards and do the same. She aims to awaken the consciousness of the individuals who interact with her work. Her aim is to inspire the childlike essence that was installed in all of us before we were hit with the grave reality of life. From her various memories between Lagos and London, art was always used as a mode of storytelling, a way to share her own history.

Art provides her with the opportunity to create beauty out of sorrow. Similar to the metamorphosis of a caterpillar into a butterfly, Gbadamosi is interested in the murky and at times unattractive stages of life, she encourages us all to be mindful and present as these times can be some of the most rewarding and in turn beautiful experiences life has to offer.