The Tranquillity series

David Odusanya (commonly known as David Sanya) is an artist born and raised in Lagos, Nigeria, who later migrated to the UK in 2016. He is known for his simplistic photographs frequently referencing influences from old romantic paintings and colonial Nigerian history.

David creates a cross-cultural fusion of contemporary Africa using the elements of the sublime as a base, he centre frames characters facing off against the immersive confrontation with the vastness, awe and terror; to some extent, it is a constant reminder of our innate encounter with the vast aspects of nature and a sublime visual meeting with our powerlessness at the hands of the oppressor.

Whilst his photographs may be perceived as beautiful on the surface, the ideas, and concepts behind them confront the horrors of the past. The ugliness becomes awry, and we begin to understand why these characters are where they are and why they’ve made those choices. Fragments of identity may never be complete as we are just slivers of our true selves, and what we allow people to see depends on societal norms. Still, this ever-changing complexity varies, and we are faced with this unique encounter of the individual unknown.

A contradiction of the migrant image shaped in the media by framing these images and experiences within a more understandable and optimistic scenario. I conceptualise new forms of migrant identities by merging the African cultures in different artistic approaches and using my migrant narrative.