b. 1997, Nigeria Lives and works in Lagos, Nigeria Afeez Onakoya is a Lagos-based painter and visionary artist whose work passionately celebrates the human form. A graduate of Yaba College of Education, he channels profound reflections through the medium of charcoal, transforming simple strokes into powerful narratives of resilience and introspection. His expressive figurative compositions often reveal contorted, kinetic bodies, and visual poetry that inhabit a liminal space between movement and stillness, form and abstraction. Onakoya has participated in significant exhibitions, including the group show Freedom in Multitudes in London (October 2024), where his charcoal works furthered cross-cultural dialogue around Black identity. More recently, in 2025, he featured in a compelling duo exhibition titled The Ties That Bind, exploring the emotional spectrum of love, loss, longing, desire, and despair. Onakoya’s work continues to push the boundaries of figuration and emotion, engaging viewers in a meditation on the human condition through texture, gesture, and the subtle drama of shadow and light.