Sola Olulode

b. London 1996

Sola Olulode’s dreamy queer visions explore embodiments of British Black Womxn and Non-Binary Folx. Working with various mediums of natural dyeing, batik, wax, ink, pastel, oil bar, and impasto she develops textural canvases that explore the fluidities of identities. Drawing inspiration from lived experience, friends, and cultural reference points to centre Black Queer Womxn, Olulode emphasises the integral need of representation and celebration of queer intimacies.

Her utopian scenes celebrate relationships that transcend crude notions of queer sexuality, her figures exemplify the warm embrace of queer love, a temporal space to bathe in memories of intimacies abundant with scenes of profoundly deep tender connections. Envisaging a world reflective of the celebration of her own identities Olulode brings to life representation and visibility of Black Queer lived experiences. Her figures represent multifaceted complex individuals and the energy they hold in their bodies relishing in a boundless temporality of self-validation and joy.

Sola Olulode is a British-Nigerian London based artist who works across the medium of paint and textile influenced by Yoruba Adire textiles designs. She reinterprets images of majoritively Black Womxn expressed through diverse reflections of feminine energies. Olulode received a BA in Fine Art Painting from the University of Brighton in 2018. She has exhibited works internationally and graced panels across multiple London galleries and art fairs including VO Curations, Carl Freedman Gallery, Christie’s Education and Lisson Gallery.

Olulode was featured in Artsy’s 2021 “Portrayals of Black Joy” campaign, which saw her work presented by ARTPOWHER Contemporary “Laying in the Grass II," appear on public screens within the transit systems of several major U.S. cities.

Photo credit: Lucie Zoe Lazarus