Cultural rhythms on canvas: A critical look at Damilola Akinpelumi’s art

In her latest visual composition, Whispers of the Village, Damilola Victoria Akinpelumi, a rising voice in Nigerian visual art, reimagines everyday African life through expressive form and a mature command of colour. This work, exhibited at the African Art Fair in Lagos, shows an artist rooted in cultural consciousness yet striving to shape her own stylistic terrain.

Whispers of the Village is a vibrant canvas narrative depicting village scenes: individuals in animated conversation under a thatched hut, a palm wine tapper scaling a palm tree, and a hanging traditional gourd.

The background is a richly textured swirl of deep maroons, warm golds, and hints of cool blue. Overlaying the scene is a linear grid that subtly fractures the image into panels, giving it a cubist undertone without overwhelming the narrative of the painting.

Damilola achieves a balance that mirrors the layered textures of African life: fragmented yet whole, busy yet intimate.

Damilola uses acrylic paints, texturing paste, and metallic pigments to create a dimensional surface that interacts with light. Subtle impasto techniques used in this artwork offer realism.

The deliberate elongation of limbs, simplified facial details, and gestural expressiveness point to an affinity with expressionism. As her work matures, Damilola may also experiment further with scale and abstraction.

The architectural grid in Whispers of the Village hints at this potential – suggesting how structural deconstruction could become more central in future works.

Moreover, the faces of her figures, while stylised, sometimes lack individual character or emotional variance, which could be an area for consideration. Different postures, facial nuances, and body language might add more depth to her human subjects.

Additionally, she could expand her themes from community and rural life to modernity, migration, or environmental change, thereby broadening both the content and context of her art.

Damilola is poised for international recognition. Her command of painting techniques and her culturally rich depictions resonate with a global appetite for artistic voices from the African continent. It is also worth noting that Damilola’s artistic fluency extends beyond the canvas.

She also has a growing reputation in fashion design. In November 2023, she showcased one of her fashion collections at the Fashion Rave event hosted by Fashions Finest Africa, a collection that subtly echoed the earthy tones and tactile richness that characterise her paintings.

In sum, Damilola Victoria Akinpelumi’s Whispers of the Village is not merely a painting. It is a poem painted on a canvas and an artistic declaration.